Training Schedule

Here is my "official" schedule which is a slightly modified Excel copy of the marathontraining.com training plan. (This is re-modified from my original as I've made a fortunate mistake by 1 week which luckily allows me to take a week off for my vacay, which is included along with all other currently planned vacations, highlighted)

























Speaking of vacations and missed training.
I did some research online and did not find any conclusive recommendations on how to deal with missed training runs.

From runnersworld.com:
If you were to plot the mileage of most marathon-training schedules on a graph, it would show a straight, slowly rising line followed by a short, steep plunge during the taper. But reality is never that smooth. "Expect peaks and valleys - periods of improvement and stagnation," says Connelly. And if you miss a day or two of training, just go back to the schedule. "If you miss a whole week, backtrack the same amount of time that you skipped," say the Finkes. "If you miss more than two weeks, adjust your goals or switch to a later marathon."

From marathonrookie.com:
If you miss a week of runs during a training period, do not try to make up for lost time when you start back. Just move on as if you ran that week and pick up with the current schedule. However, start back at a slower pace to allow your body to adjust, especially if your time off was due to illness.

A nice set of guidelines from runningplanet.com (I pasted selectively what applies to me):

Injured 12 Weeks or More Before Marathon

Recovery Time	Adjustments
Up to 1 Week	Pick up with current training week @ 75% of recommended volume for one week. The resume normal training.
1 - 2 Weeks	Pick up with current training week @ 50% of recommended volume for one week and 75% of recommended volume for a second week. Then resume normal training.
2 - 3 Weeks	Pick up with current training week @ 50% of recommended volume for one week and 75% of recommended volume for a second week. Then resume normal training. Consider adjusting your finishing time goal to a slightly lower level.

Injured 5 to 8 Weeks Before Marathon

Recovery Time	Adjustments
Up to 1 Week	Pick up with current training week @75% of recommended volume for one week. Then resume normal training.
1 - 2 Weeks	Pick up with current training week @ 50% of recommended volume for one week and 75% of recommended volume for a second week. Then resume normal training.

What I take from all this is
#1 - if you are able to run on vacation - run as closely to the plan as possible
#2 - if you know you won't be able to run - adjust the schedule as best as you can
#3 - if the missed training is unexpected - the guidelines above are great

Once I get into a routine and become slightly more intelligent about all this, I will certainly have to get back to this topic and manipulate my schedule.