Marathon Training
This past week was a bit of a struggle (like most weeks), but I think that I’ve regained my marathon motivation. It has taken me a few days of getting used to not smoking. Of course, making myself busy is one way to forget about not smoking, but it has been hard to get that initial push. I think receiving this email from NYRR about NYC’s Marathon Sunday snapped me out of my ‘woe is me’ syndrome.
I know folks say that you should not change marathon training program once you are a few weeks in, but I’m not sure the couch to marathon training plan is right for me. Yes, I’m pretty slow these days, but I think the plan might be too easy. Seven weeks in and my “long run” is 5 miles. One thing that concerned me about the couch to marathon training plan is how late in the plan the 15+ miles occur. I get the plan is for beginners and preventing injury (very important), but I sometimes feel unprepared if I do not get in enough long miles at least 1.5 months before a marathon. I have upgraded to a newish 16 week plan that has 4-5 runs per week and starts the longer runs earlier compared to the couch to marathon plan. If I am struggling through the long runs with the new plan, I can always reduce the mileage. Isn’t better to set your sights high and fail than not trying at all? At least this makes sense in my head.
Speaking of removing stress
The folks from Madrid’s marathon have let me switch my registration from a full marathon to a half marathon. So YAY! Or rather, So OLE.
According to my new marathon training plan, my long run should be 14 – 16 miles during the weekend of Madrid’s full/half marathon. I figure that I can always add a couple of miles to the half marathon rather than mentally preparing myself to run a full marathon 1.5 months before NYC Marathon. Also running the half, instead of the full, will give me more time to enjoy post-race tapas y vinos. MUY IMPORTANTE Finally, I think the day after the Madrid’s marathon, the hubby and I are supposed to travel from Madrid to Barcelona or Santander. Who wants to do a post-marathon recovery on a train? Or, are we flying? I guess that I should ask him for the itinerary at some point. 😉
This is how I have been when thinking about registering for some out of city/state fall races.
Hopefully, everyone had a nice weekend and is ready to take on this week.
Goals for the week:
-Return to normal training mode.
-Get back to intermittent fasting and tracking daily food & water intake.
Questions of the day:
-Anyone have some interesting shows to watch? I’m kind of over 90 Day Fiance (and its 8 million spinoffs). Lately, at least with the newish season of 90 DF: Happily Ever After, pretty much all of the couples are getting on my damn nerves. Then I’m like: why am I getting so angry over people that I do not know? I know for certain that one of the couples has been faking drama for years to get a spin off. Who’s like: my entire family hates my Moldovan husband so why don’t we ride in ONE RV from Tampa, Florida to somewhere in Maryland? Sorry, that mini rant went on for a little longer than expected. . .
Social media plug:
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Run There, Drink That 
Have you looked at Hal Higdons marathon training plans? I used his beginner one for my weekly runs and his intermediate 1 plan for my long runs.
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I have used his plan in the past. However, I did incorporate some of his training activities in this plan. I guess that I just should have used one of his plans this time around. Eh, this is how my brain was “working” at 3 am when I was putting the new plan into my Google calendar.
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That sounds like a good plan. I like to be running long further out than that, too. And hooray for you being able to change Madrid after all, that’s excellent news.
Re TV, can you get Taskmaster there, I wonder? Five British (ish) comedians (you don’t need to know them to enjoy it; we never know all of them) are set weird tasks to do over a number of months then are judged on them. There are 13 or 14 seasons and they’re hilarious.
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