Marathon Training Week 1

I took 16 days off running after marathon #2. Then had 3 weeks to get my base miles back into the 20ish mile range.

Training for the Chicago Marathon started this week. I picked Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 plan. I've used HH's novice 1 plan twice (well, one and a half times because I had 10 weeks between marathon #1 and #2 and picked up halfway through the plan for marathon #2). It worked out well for my first 2 marathons. My goal was to finish in under 4 hours. I did that twice. Now my goal is to qualify for Boston. I picked the intermediate plan because it has more miles and it also has longish/hard run the day before a long run. That gives you practice at running on tired legs.

My training plan for the week was cross-train, run 3, 5, and 3 miles, rest, 5 mile pace run, and 8 mile long run. That sound more like a regular old running week than a marathon training week. But I will take it while I can. Just consider it an extended marathon recovery.

Sunday - ran a wee bit to calibrate my Nike+ sensor, yoga class at the gym
Monday - early morning 3.7 mile run, plus calf raises. First run after recalibrating my Nike+. It was almost spot on compared to a map. Then came home to a Garmin!!
Tuesday - 5.5 mile run with both Nike+ and Garmin. I'm liking this Garmin business.
Wednesday - 3.7 mile run, plus upper body exercises and a walk home from the gym. Really really liking this Garmin business now that I have it set up for mile splits. Did some core work and lunges in the evening while I caught up with my DVR.
Thursday - rest day
Friday - 5 mile pace run plus some pushups. Chose the treadmill over going outside because it has been a long time since I've tried to run at a particular pace. Set the treadmill to 7.5 mph (8:00 pace) and let the belt pace me. All I had to do was keep up. Not impossible but I'm not going to lie. It was challenging.
Saturday - 8.2 miles completed before 8am. I had decided the day before to run with just the Garmin and no iPod, which turned out to be a smart move because it was rainy. It didn't rain the whole time, but there were some heavy showers. It was a really nice run. Not having music let me tune into my thoughts. It's been a long time since that has happened on a run.

Total Miles: Scheduled - 24, Actual - 26.1