16 August 2009

14 Weeks To Philly - Training Going Well

Today I finished my second week of training and it is now fourteen weeks to the Philadelphia Marathon. While on my run this morning I was thinking about my training plan, and decided I need to write about how it is going.... because it is going great!

Including this current plan, I have started three official training plans. The C25K program, The Broad Street Run training program and of course this Philadelphia Marathon training plan. Besides the one I am doing now for the marathon I have finished none.

Why could that be?

Well the C25K program was obviously my first, and was intended to get me started with running. It is a good program and I recommend it to everyone wanting to start. I did not stop the program for any reason related to the actual program, but reasons completely my fault.

I had bad running shoes which did not help my feet and legs, and I ran too fast which also did not help my feet and legs and breathing. I developed very bad shin splints and was discouraged pretty quickly. I stopped running altogether after almost three weeks of C25K.

Luckily I started running again a few months after that, because late last year I decided to run the Philadelphia Broad Street Run. I snagged a plan off of Runners World and started training for that. Life got in the way of that one and I abandoned the plan because my schedule was interfering with it. Luckily I was still able to run some and did finish the Broad Street Run, and ran it pretty well.

So I decided to develop my own training plan for the Philadelphia Marathon. I like the 16 week plans. Although I would like to run five or six days a week, my body can really only handle three days a week right now. I have also found that running by time rather than distance works better for me right now.

So I spent a couple nights tweaking a plan that looks good for me. All my runs, except for a few Yasso 800's, are scheduled by time. Even speed workouts. This is the first time creating a plan as well as the first time running a marathon, so I am nervous that I may not know what I am doing... but so far everything is going well. We will know for sure in fourteen more weeks.

I had a bad run the other day, because of a long day at work and the heat, but every other run has been great. I am feeling good. My legs feel great. I am learning what my body can do and how to avoid injury. I am looking forward to speed work, and the excitement of the marathon keeps building and building.

I am praying that it is God's will for me to run this marathon. I want to stay healthy and injury free and run a good run.

I am feeling good!

2 comments:

Lindsay said...

glad training is going well! there is absolutely nothing wrong with training by time vs. mileage or the other way around. even on your 800 days you can still do your warm up and cooldown by time if you wanted. training goes differently for everyone - find what works for you and stick with it!

FLYERS26 said...

Keep up the good work!
It will pay off on a Sunday in Nov!