I made my training plan for the Myrtle Beach marathon and had a PR there, so I decided to make my plan again and increase the intensity. Go to Boston or go home, right? In the past, my weekly workouts have included track work or a tempo run. This time, my weekly workouts include track work *and* a tempo run. The majority of my weeks are in the mid 50's for mileage, with a max of 65 miles. I've found that anything over that just wears me down and does more harm than good.
I've added on personal training with Next Level Personal Training. Yes, the person who thought personal training was a waste of money if you knew how to do your own research and were willing to take the time to learn about weights is now paying for personal training. I was getting bored with my weight routine and wanted something more dynamic that was catered to running, so I decided to give personal training a go for a bit. I have had a few friends who have seen big dividends from not going crazy with mileage and adding on a personal trainer, so I'm hoping to see similar results. I wish I had started earlier so that I would have more of this under my belt before Lehigh, but some is better than none.
I eat healthy 85% of the time, so in the last weeks of marathon training I'm trying to bump that up to 90-95% of the time. My "cheat" night is Friday night when I have pizza to fuel my long run the next morning. I've been good about not indulging after my long runs. I have chocolate milk and fruit/bagel; I don't go crazy on junk food. I'm not running so I can eat junk; I'm eating so I can run faster than I ever have! What you eat really impacts your running, so part of running well is eating well. I will have froyo or cookies occasionally, but am trying to keep my "treats" sparse and mainly limited to dark chocolate.
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| Lots of sweat shed here - no tears though! Photo by Deyman |
With less than a month to go, I'm feeling good about the training I've been doing. I've stuck to my schedule and logged a lot of miles. The best runs I have had have been my 20-miler and 21-miler. The 23-miler wasn't too hot, but it got done. I've been hitting faster times on the track than I thought I could in the summer. Based on different marathon time predictors, I should be able to run anywhere between a 3:15 and 3:35 marathon, but I'm realistic, so here are my goals:
1. Get to the start line healthy.
2. Finish.
3. PR (sub 3:33:39).
4. 3:29:59.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Philippians 4:13
