Friday, March 27, 2015

Countdown: 24 days until the Boston Marathon


It's less than a month until the Boston Marathon (24 days to be exact) and I am cramming in the training like a freshman before finals.

WAIT. Calm down. I am going to taper. But there is a plan and that plan involves running another 20-miler this weekend! Woohoo? (Siiiiigh 20 miles all by myself, solo, alone with my thoughts...)

I'm following the same training plan I used for my last marathon (thanks George!), except ahem I may or may not have taken a week off here and there this time around. So yes, I'm behind. Thus, what kind of shape am I in? Who knows. I don't even know! It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride training-wise, so come race day I could run anything from a PR to a 4-hour marathon. 

So here's the plan: 20 this weekend, 16 next weekend, 12 the weekend after that, then marathon time!

The good news is that it is FINALLY spring(ish) here in Boston! Case in point: today I went for a run in the rain. Which might sound unpleasant to some but focus, I said rain, not snow

So what did this month-before-marathon week look like? 
  • Monday: run 6.6 miles
  • Tuesday: tempo workout -- warm up 2 miles, 2x2 miles with 1 mile in between, 2 miles cool down -- 9 miles total
  • Wednesday: yoga!
  • Thursday: run 6.6 miles
  • Friday: tempo run -- warm up 2 miles, 4 mile tempo, cool down 2 miles -- 8 total
  • Saturday: run 4 miles
  • Sunday: 20 mile progression run
So after Sunday, my week total will be 54 miles, which isn't a lot for marathoners, but it's plenty for me!

Anywho, just wanted to give you people of the interwebs an update on my training. Next week I'll write more on how to taper! And also marathon nutrition, because gels and gus and blocs and hydration are important.

(Also, please help me get to my fundraising goals by donating to childhood obesity research!)