Marathon Training: Week 1

Last week started the long road of marathon training. I am doing 16 well-thought out weeks prior to my participation in the Rock n Roll USA Marathon in March. I want to ensure that I am beyond prepared for an official marathon.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
9	5	5	Rest	3 Turkey Trot	Rest	13

My week started just last Sunday with a 9 mile run. My intention was to do it all at once, but I woke up not feeling it...whatever "it" is. Not the best way to start marathon training, if you ask me. I ended up breaking the run into 3 segments on the treadmill, each segment being 3 miles each. I managed to finish it, though at some points, I was not sure if I was motivated for another round.

Tuesday was not much different. I ran on the treadmill in 2 sessions: 3.1 and 1.9. Frustration possessed me because I was running so much slower than what I would have liked. I found it so difficult to speed up. My body was fighting it. I was almost sure that the Turkey Trot was going to be a complete failure for me. Thankfully, I was wrong. Though, I am still disappointed for having a slower than normal 5k race time. I keep thinking that I did better post-surgery.

Luckily, Saturday went a lot better! Friday's rest day was like restarting a computer. When your computer freezes up or acts funky, you restart it and suddenly, it is like everything works right again. Like my 10 mile run on the canal. I felt good enough to even include some speed work on the last 2.5 miles. I am determined to get back to my old times...and do even better!

That same day, I intended on running 3 miles with Peter, but he opted out for the day, so I ran about 3.5 miles in the neighborhood that evening alone. That session also went really well! I was so happy to see my miles in the low 9s, high 8s.

This week already seems to be more promising than last. I already did 11 miles yesterday and they went better than I expected. Hopefully this means that I just worked out all the kinks already and no more will not occur for the remainder of my training. Wouldn't that be lovely!!! A girl can dream!

Anyone in the process of marathon training?

How long do you prepare for a half marathon or marathon?

Do you break up your runs?