I just signed up for the City of Trees Marathon and immediately became ravenously hungry. Maybe part of the problem was that I also just finished charting out my own, custom training plan. I don’t think a person can look at all those pending miles on the calendar and not get hungry! But, I have already been strained figuring out how to eat enough for the half marathon I just completed. I know, this could be considered a strange problem to have.
So, I mention this trouble to my husband-coach, expecting some sort of sage advice. Instead, he tells me that I have to also plan an exercise program for him OR find an alternate, away from home, out-of-his-sight location to do my eating. Hmpf! I understand that last year’s shoulder surgery and back problems have been frustrating for his normally active self, but he is the coach. However, I have to admit that I am usually The Scheduler. Besides, should I pass up such an open opportunity to be in charge???
He did already supervise and approve the design of my personal marathon training plan, so I guess he has done the CEO’s work. I certainly could not have done this in a satisfactory way without him. He has only run 3 marathons, but he placed second in the Great Potato Marathon one of those times, so he has some credentials. He has also run many half marathons, as well as innumerable shorter races since high school. The basic qualities of my plan that he spoke firmly on were:
- easy recovery from the half-marathon I just ran,
- combined with gradual, 3 week build up to my pre-half marathon mileage,
- followed by a gradual build up of miles for long runs staggered with increasing miles in the other runs during the week
- all the while getting proper rest,
- and making sure I cut back on mileage a solid 3 weeks prior to the actual marathon
I did the actual scheduling for my training plan, about a month at a time. First, I looked around for an app, but I settled on a plain old calendar app. I already use google calendar for all the family goings-ons, but I needed something uncluttered and dedicated to the marathon for the sake of sanity. I also liked the idea of this calendar being independent of internet and next to my Runner’s Log app on my iPad. Since I have already charted a lot on this Runner’s Log and am happy with it, there was no need to duplicate that aspect with one of the expensive and more complicated training apps.
My free version of the Informant calendar app has running, biking, and swimming icons that I can attach to training “events.” This makes following my plan easier visually. To total my projected running mileage at the end of each week, I just created “an event” late in the evening for each Saturday. I used a checkered flag icon for this. Biking and swimming will still be my cross training, but will only be tracked by time spent doing them on the days listed. Counting backward from the marathon date, I created “an event” each Sunday to tell me how many weeks until the race. Since this is a rest day, with only the word “REST” as “an event”, I didn’t bother with an icon for the countdown.
My husband-coach looked each section of my plan over and tweaked miles. Usually he kept me from increasing my efforts too quickly, but sometimes he encouraged me to increase mileage on shorter run days, in keeping with the overall plan of not changing too much in one week. He approved of my decision to run 4 days a week, instead of just the 3 that I had been doing for the half marathon training, and understood my reasoning for not running more days per week for now.
Getting back to the husband’s workout schedule – I’m getting better ideas all the time. I will be doing a lot of my workouts in the mornings, which means he can join me for 3 of my runs, even if they are on his days off. I don’t see why he needs to sleep in those days. He can adjust. I can tell him to get up early before work and ride the spinning bike a couple of mornings, too. The only good reason I can see for flexibility is recuperation from late night dancing. But I’ve already planned my running schedule so that only shorter runs would be scheduled for the days after potential dancing on weekends, plus, dancing will be good for training, so it is all under control.
I know this training plan is a flexible framework. It is here to guide me, to help me make gentle, regular progress, to encourage me and get me back on track when the unexpected interrupts. Here are some screenshots of my training calendar (click on any photo to enlarge ,but I can’t seem to make it large enough to read without straining, so will list workouts below) :
All Sundays, every week, except for the day I run the marathon, are rest days. It is just the best day for it for me.
In May, Tuesdays: bike 45 minutes and swim 20 or 30 minutes.
The Thursdays: only bike 30 minutes, but swim increase to 40 minutes by the 29th.
Mondays will be my long run day, beginning with 8 miles the 26th.
Wednesdays: run 6 miles.
Friday, the 30th, run 2 miles
On Saturday, the 31st, run only 4 miles.
June’s Monday runs in order (5 Mondays in June): 10 miles, 13 miles, 15 miles (finally back up to pre-half marathon distance again), 16 miles, 14 miles. Throughout the training, the long runs will stagger up and down.
Tuesdays: bike still 45 minutes and swim 30 minutes.
Wednesday’s runs in order: 6 miles, 7 miles, 7 miles, 8 miles, 9 miles.
Thursdays: bike 45 minutes, swim 20 minutes
Fridays runs in order, followed by swim time: 2 miles/40 minutes, 2 miles/45 minutes, 2 miles/45 minutes, 2 miles/45 minutes.
Saturdays runs: 4 miles/week total 22 miles, 5 miles/week total 27 miles, 5 miles/week total 29 miles, 5 miles/31 miles.
July’s Mondays runs: 18 miles, 16 miles, 20 miles, 18 miles.
Tuesdays: bike 45 minutes, swim 30 minutes
Wednesdays runs: 9 miles, 9 miles, 10 miles, 10 miles, 10 miles.
Thursdays: bike 45 minutes/swim 20 minutes.
Fridays in order, run/swim: 2 miles/45 minutes, 2 miles/50 minutes, 3 miles/ 50 minutes, 3 miles/50 minutes.
Saturdays, run/week total: 6 miles/31 miles, 5 miles/34 miles, 5 miles/34 miles, 4 miles/37 miles.
August Monday runs: 22 miles, 20 miles, 24 miles, 22 miles.
Tuesdays: still bike 45 minutes, swim 30 minutes.
Wednesday runs: 10 miles, 11 miles, 11 miles, 12 miles.
Thursday: the ever steady 45 minutes of biking and 20 minutes of swimming should seem like a rest day at this point!
Friday runs/swimming: 3 miles/50 minutes X 3 Fridays, but increase on the 29th to 4 miles/50 minutes.
Saturday runs/week running mileage total: 6 miles/37 miles, 5 miles/40 miles, 6 miles/40 miles, 6 miles/ 44 miles, 6 miles/44 miles.
September Monday runs: 26 miles, 24 miles, 27 miles, 18 miles, 14 miles.
Tuesdays: 45 minutes biking, 30 minutes swimming.
Wednesday runs: 12 miles, 12 miles, 12 miles, 10 miles.
Thursdays: bike 45 minutes, swim 20 minutes.
Friday runs/swim: 4 miles/50 minutes all 4 times.
Saturday runs/week mileage total: 6 miles/48 miles, 8 miles/48 miles, 7 miles/50 miles, 8 miles/40 miles.
October Monday runs: 14 miles, 10 miles, then resting after marathon for the rest of the month still to be determined.
Tuesdays: 2 weeks continuing bike 45 minutes and swim 30 minutes, then resting after marathon for the rest of the month still to be determined.
Wednesday runs: 8 miles, 6 miles, then resting after marathon for the rest of the month still to be determined.
Thursdays: bike 45 minutes, swim 20 minutes for 2 weeks, then the rest thing.
Friday runs/swims: 4 miles/50 minutes, 2 miles/might cut out the swim.
Saturdays: 6 miles/32 total, rest day before marathon!
I am in control, relatively speaking of course. “The Plan” does not rule over me. But it’s good to see that I have time to gradually work up to the marathon mileage. Meaning, I really plan on running the distance of a marathon a couple of times before the race. I know many people and plans say this is “not necessary,” but then I am hearing about everyone “hitting the wall” at a distance that is strangely the same distance as their longest training runs. Curious. I know it will take time to run that far, as I keep working according to my maximum aerobic function training plan. My husband agrees with me that getting the distance in should make the race more pleasant, though.
I do still have moments of freaking out. Then, I remember that I have birthed 7 children without using pain killers. These were all 3 – 12 hour labors. And I hadn’t even trained for it. Now, excuse me, while I go find a snack!