The Girl with the Plan

Yay, I had a great eight miler today at a nice easy pace. I couldn’t have been more in the groove! The weather was wonderful and everyone I passed either smiled or waved. It was just one of those runs that I really treasure.

So where am I at and what are my goals? I am currently training for the Arizona Rock’n’Roll marathon which will be my very first! I'm a marathon virgin. I started running again this year in February and got the crazy idea in my head that I wanted to do a marathon, so I started training in May. Since that time, I also decided to do a half marathon in December (good practice for the full). I’m a big fan of themed runs, so the one in December is the Santa to the Sea in Oxnard California.

A few weeks ago I was offered a spot on my company’s relay team for the Santa Barbara marathon and I jumped at the chance to join in on the fun. Since then, I’ve come to my senses and realized I need to do some speed work (I don’t want to let the team down!), so I’ve just added some fartleks and tempo runs to my schedule. I probably bit off more than I can chew, but I’ll love every minute of it.

I currently run four days a week. I was doing five days a week when I first started, but my body was telling me it was too much, so I cut it back and I have really benefited from the change. Monday is my tempo run or fartleks. I go 3 to 4.5 miles on Monday, depending on how I’m feeling that day. Tuesday is a rest day. Sometimes I’ll throw in 30 to 45 minutes on the bike. Wednesday is one of my long days. Today (Wednesday) I went just over 8 miles and I try to increase the distance around a quarter to half a mile each week. It’s usually an easy pace, similar to what I’m aiming to do in the marathon. Thursday is another rest day with possibly some bike. Friday is an easy three miles and Saturday is my second long day. Unlike Wednesday, Saturday is an interval run. I run eights and twos. So I run eight minutes, walk two minutes, run eight, walk two, etc. I’ve built up to 12 miles on my Saturday run and I try to increase about 3/4's of a mile each week. Sunday is a total rest day, nothing extra thrown in (most of the time). My goal is to have every third to fourth week be an easy week to help keep me from overtraining, but sometimes I get too eager for my own good and don’t take the rest.

So far, my training has been going pretty good. The only problems I run into (no pun intended) is when I try to push myself too far too fast or smash my toe in the door. Hopefully I can keep myself under control and make it to the marathon without anymore mishaps!