04/07: 5mi - MB Wk11

PLAN: 6mi
RAN: 5mi @ 9.5-9.5-10-9.5 m/mi
LOC: LTF @ lunch
EL: 5+

Despite it being on a treadmill it was a GREAT run! I chose to do only 5 miles because...

1. Due to running 4 miles on Mon my week total would be 28mi which is a 12% increase from last week, which I didn't even complete. I simply did not want to overwork my body.
2. Yesterday's run was bad, I didn't want this week to get worse.
3. I took a 2-hour lunch as is..

Even at my 'faster' pace my breathing was amazing the whole way; no cramps and nothing hurt; but I really started pushing it the last mile - it's the whole body fatigue that gets me most of the time, and that's resolved only by mental and physical training.

Schedule Modification
Wk11 is supposed to be recovery week (4-6-4-4-4=22); Wk10 was (4-5-4-4-8=25) while I only ran 13. Following the guidelines the best way to resolve this is to flip: assume Wk10 as recovery week; do Wk10 mileage during Wk11; and continuing on to Wk12 as normal. Which is exactly what I've done so far: 4-5... the only difference is the 8-miler which I should be ready for by the end of this week. Wk12 will be great as another break week with another 8-miler. Will modify on my Google Schedule.

04/05: 4mi* - MB Wk11

PLAN: Rest
RAN: 30min elliptical; 4mi @ 9.7m/mi - timed
LOC: LTF @ Lunch; Hidden Lake

I missed 3 days / 16 miles of training (due to long miles of hiking in southern IL - Shawnee National Forest) and after some research on the best way to make up missed runs I decided to warm up my legs and lungs at lunch; and then run an easy 4 miles after work.
I am glad I did 4mi only - no pain today and I feel that I will be OK for the rest of the week, but it was enough to get my body back into running.
I had some inner-ankle pain, not sure why, prob all the hiking.

Today I used my DIY GPS method to track my pace. More later.

Marathon Training Schedule

Here is my "official" schedule that I created at the inception of this idea. This is a slightly modified Excel copy of the marathontraining.com training plan. This is a great starting point until the magic 17-week marker when the 'real' training comes in.

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.

Prelim Research

Amazingly concise-and-to-the-point website:
http://www.marathontraining.com/

I have done minimal research and simply committed to the following schedule:































The following logic was simple - Chicago Marathon is scheduled for October 10th http://www.chicagomarathon.com/cms400min/chicago_marathon/
Therefore, I had to start at week 9 of the mileage buildup schedule in order to sync the timing.

In retrospect, after reading all of the articles on the website mentioned above, it was not a good idea to jump from zero to 22 mi/week. but I knew that I would start easy, at my own pace.