Hey y'all!Guess what?! I am in marathon training mode again and I am super excited about the new training plan I have set up for myself. For those who don't know, I am a certified RRCA Running Coach and a Beachbody Coach. With that said, if anything strikes a cord with you in this post, please consider supporting me through following the affiliate links in this post.
No two people are the same in their needs and I hate to tell you, your own needs will change over time so what you did the past may not work as well in the future. You gotta shake it up, baby!
And I am shaking it up crazy style because I have a couple of things front and center in my needs for training right now in my life --- it has to be doable, effective, stress-free, and fun to take root and blossom as I am coming up of a depression funk (thank you God!) related to PTSD. That is another story. The second element, it has to be flexible as my life can change drastically in the blink of an eye when I say "YES" to helping someone or "YES" to an extra ride or activity for darling daughter. My training is important and so is she.
But before I tell you WHAT I am doing, I am going to share with you part of the process. When I develop a plan for myself or someone else, I always love to look at historical data on what has been happening. Here is a look of my running miles over the past year.
I think you can clearly see my drop off in running motivation but also that my March Madness challenge helped me get back into the swing of things (along with other elements). My goal in March was to run 25-30 miles per week and coming from waaaay less than that in February, I did a great job getting to 25.1 miles per week. Now, this is super low in comparison to my past running but right now we need to focus on the now, not the then, and celebrate the now.
What you don't see in this graph is the cross training I do almost daily. I do take down time between programs at times and the programs I do range from 21-30 days....sometimes more. There is a 60-day program I adore! If you want to learn more about those, please email me and we can chat! Or drop me a comment below.
I have also been eating according to plan at least 80% of the time and perhaps closer to 90% and that matters. I am making sure I am getting enough protein and not overdoing the carbs like I am notorious for. Carbs can be good in moderation though and I am not a carb-free gal. In fact, I have noticed on some days if I inadvertently haven't had any at all I can feel it and I do eat some again, according to plan. I love my portion control containers to help me with that!
Now on to the good stuff ---> my training plan!
First, for marathons the long run matters and in the past I have struggled to get these in mainly because of something coming up on the day I was supposed to do it and/or forcing me to try to run them on the treadmill, which is really hard by the way on some days. So for the sake of ensuring I nail those long runs and eliminate run day stress, I have established month goals for my long runs versus scheduling them on x-days. My marathon is in October so I have LOTS of time to get me where I want to be. Since I have that much time, here is my plan:
- April: 10 miles (I already have two 10+ mile days in!)
- May: 13 miles
- June: 16 miles
- July: 18 miles
- August: 20 miles
- September: 20-22 miles
- October: Race Month with the race on the 15th
On this plan I am playing on my strengths and my tendency to try to get things done earlier rather than later. I knew my goal was to nail a 10 mile run this month and I already have two days in. I know my goal is to nail 13 miles in May, that I would like to do that run earlier rather than later, so I am working on building up to it throughout the rest of the month.
Second, marathon training is more than the long run and other running days matter but again, I am not going super detailed with a day-by-day plan of x-miles. My March Madness worked well for me so I am staying with that strategy. I had an overriding goal and knew if I fell short one week, I would work to bring it back up to my goal. This gives me the flexibility I need right now and prevents me from "getting down" on myself and that is counterproductive to training. Here are my mileage goals:
- April: 30 miles/week
- May: 35 miles/week
- June: 40 miles/week
- July: 40-45 miles/week
- August: 40-45 miles/week
- September: 40-45 miles/week
- October: Have fun month! No goals beyond run the race!!!
In April and May, I am focused more on building up my base and setting a strong foundation so I am not focused too much on speed, etc. Just running and having fun! In June, I will start incorporating speed work in my running and may add pace goals to my training plan.
Third, cross train. This is where I will take full advantage of having hundreds of programs at my fingertips that I can stream easily at home or on the go (great for summer travels!). And I would be totally awful and an uncool friend if I didn't tell you that for this month, you can get the All Access Pass to these programs AND the shake for only $160 (normal retail for this is $197 and way back when, I paid $140 for ONE program on DVD and my shake...just saying).
The programs I like have daily workouts that last typically 30 minutes but can range from 21 minutes to 47 minutes and some days I do more than one. On days I do three darling daughter shakes her head and tells me I am CRAZY but she also wrote me a beautiful note the other day saying what she loved about me and guess what? Me doing Beachbody was one of them! The others, I buy her food, take her to riding lessons, and craft with her. But I digress....
My cross training is a mix of cardio, strength, agility, and flexibility. By golly! That pretty much covers everything! And I know it will make a HUGE difference because when I was in my running slump, I still cross trained. It was fun. And when I bit the bullet and started increasing my mileage, my body is completely accepting increases that go beyond the suggested.
I am super excited to start this journey and to share it with you and once again, if you want any help, or have any questions, I am here for you and FYI, I offer online coaching for running too!
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for getting my running mojo back.
Daily Bible Verse: But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ~ Matthew 24:13
