Because I didn’t announce that I was marathon training right away (I wanted to be sure I was committed), I was already on week two of training. However, that was if I was doing a marathon before the wedding I am attending in May. So, once I decided to officially only do the one marathon, I was ahead of schedule. I actually wasn’t sure if I was going to stay with the same training plan as I had used before…and my thought process looked a little something like this:

But after detailed looks at each type of plan, each level of plan and my schedule/life commitments, I went with Hal Higdon’s plan again. I’m bouncing back and forth between the Novice 2 (the one I did last time) and the Intermediate 1 Plans. The reason being is that some weeks I can physically have time to run 5 days a week and others I can only get in 4 days. I also am getting in a lot of strength training via school. We have about 1 to 2 hours of “practical time” in which we practice training and in turn get trained.  This is keeping my upper body in shape (casue you DO need those powerful arms to pump your stride). In addition to all the above I have been foam rolling EVERY DAY!!!!!!

Since I was ahead of my training schedule, I repeated Week 1.

Vermont City Marathon Training – Week 1.1:

-Monday: Rest day. Training in school.

-Tuesday: 3 miles. Completed 2 miles total, in school, so, I was on the treadmill.

-Wednesday: 5 miles. Completed 4.3. I was actually trying to get to 5 miles, however, the route that I took was slightly less than I expected.

-Thursday: 3 miles. I believe I went straight from work to school, so I only got in about 1 mile in class.

-Friday: Supposed to be rest day. Instead, I did 4.3 miles around my neighborhood to make up for the previous day.

-Saturday: Rest day. “Rest” is relative in my life. I was on my feet for 8 hours carrying shoe boxes back and forth and up and down.

-Sunday: 8 Mile long run. I hadn’t ran like this in a long time! I felt amazing! Just got in my rhythm; there wasn’t a single time that I wanted to stop or that I was struggling. Although, right in the beginning of the run, I almost got hit by a car! I think I have an uncanny ability for this…it’s happened before, during a race, and neither times were my fault. This time, I was crossing the one busy street I need to get to my trail. The cross walk signaled it was time for me to go, I stepped into the street, into the turn lane. The cross traffic started going acoss in the same direction as me. Then all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see a red blur coming and before I knew it, it was through the intersection, right through the red light. The opposing cars were missed by centimeters, and the offending car was so close and so fast, it knocked its own mirror off on the front of the legally crossing car. I was stunned. Everyone just sat there for a few more seconds staring at each other. The offending car was long gone; it just kept on going. I was so shocked that, once I finally was accross the street, I just sat on the side walk for a minute to catch my breath. Then ran and had a really good run! (P.S. I actually had written this paragraph right after returning from the run. That’s how good the run was and how scared I felt with the car incident).

Week 1.1 Total Miles: 19.6

Week 1.2

Monday: Rest Day. Rest=work 9 hours and school for 5 hours.

Tuesday: 3 miles. 3.1 completed. I literally SQUEEZED this run it. I had a busy, busy day: interview, lunch plans and school. I barely got home from my run and had to dash out the door for school.

Wednesday: 5 miles. 0 completed. I actually didn’t get my run in this day. I didn’t have time between waking up, birthday lunch with my friend and filling out paper work at the new job I accepted.

Thursday: 3 miles. I did 4.1. A nice, windy jog around my normal lake route.

Friday: Rest day. I actually did 5 miles to make up for the 5 miler I didn’t get to earlier in the week.

Saturday: Rest day.

Sunday: 8 miles. 7.75 miles completed, I think. It was an awful, AWFUL run! I did not feel well at all from the moment I woke up. It’s hard to explain, I’m not getting a cold (at least I hope not) but I felt really out of it and had stomach issues. I decided to try my run anyway and made it about 5 miles and then I was walking on and off until I got home. I felt tired, weak, nauseous. I’m not really sure why, although thinking about school stuff, my glycogen stores were probably low and I was probably mildly dehydrated from the previous night’s coffee drinking I was enduring to study for Monday’s test.

Week 1.2 Total Miles: 19.95

How’s everyone else’s training going?