I am officially running the Boston Marathon in April 2013! I am so excited but pretty nervous as well. Last October (2011) I ran my first marathon and in doing so qualified for Boston with a time of 3:29:22.78. I never dreamed that I would be able to qualify for Boston but now that I have, I want to make the most of it, train right and run well so that I have no regrets when I cross the finish line on April 15.
That being said, I have not been running as much as usual and I need to start mentally preparing for the training and long miles I have coming up. For my first marathon I followed Hal Hidgon Marathon Training Guide and I plan to do the same for this marathon. Most of his plans are 18 weeks long, but he has a Boston Bound plan specific for training for Boston which is only 12 weeks. The Boston Bound plan is pretty intense and it might be a little too much for me so I am going to try to stick to it, but also mix in some of the Intermediate 1 and Novice 2 plans in order to stay healthy, maintain my energy levels, and keep my enthusiasm up.
All of these plans require a lot more mileage than I have been doing all summer, so I am going to create my own training schedule in order to be prepared for when I need to actually start training. Below is what I have come up with!
WEEK
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
SUN
1
Cross
3 m run
5 m run
3 m run
Rest
5 m pace
8
2
Cross
3 m run
5 m run
3 m run
Rest
5 m run
9
3
Cross
3 m run
5 m run
3 m run
Rest
5 m pace
6
4
Cross
3 m run
6 m run
3 m run
Rest
6 m pace
11
5
Cross
3 m run
6 m run
3 m run
Rest
6 m run
12
6
Cross
3 m run
5 m run
3 m run
Rest
6 m pace
9
7
Cross
4 m run
7 m run
4 m run
Rest
7 m pace
14
8
Cross
4 m run
7 m run
4 m run
Rest
7 m run
15
I am going to run this weekend and start my plan officially on Monday. This plan will get me into a good place by mid-November. I plan to take a little breather before Dec. 10th, which is 18 weeks out from Boston and the real, knitty gritty training begins!
Question:
How do you train for events, marathons, competitions?
Have you done Boston? What did you use to prepare?