16 Week Marathon Plan - Week 1, Day 7

My running has been pretty consistent this past week. I skipped the 4 miler on Thursday, but the rest of the week has been right on track. Today was no different. I got up early and hit the road before 7am. The weather was 84 degrees but there was a nice breeze that helped out.

I ran a portion of the Dallas White Rock Marathon during the run. I think I'll keep adding a couple of sections of the race in the coming weeks because this is the third time I've ran the route and I'm starting to know when the uphills are coming and when the downhills and flat lands return. That kind of knowledge should be helpful for the actual marathon.

Workout Summary
Actual Time:1:29:00
Pace: 8:14/mile
Planned Distance:10 miles
Actual Distance:10.82 miles
Calories:1305 calories

16 Week Marathon Plan - Week 1, Day 6

I took Thursday and Friday off this week. Friday was the only actual planned day off. More tired from work and other stresses besides running so I thought it best to take an extra day off.

The 5 easy miles scheduled for this morning went by quickly and painlessly. Legs are feeling fresh after a couple of days off. 10 miler tomorrow should be fun!

Workout Summary
Actual Time:0:42:19
Pace: 7:55 per mile
Planned Distance:5 miles
Actual Distance:5.34 miles
Calories: 621 calories

16 Week Marathon Plan - Week 1, Day 5

Rest Day!

Today was an actual rest day which was nice. I hate skipping planned workouts like I did yesterday, but when an actual rest day rolls around, I get the most out of it that I can. Time to rest.

16 Week Marathon Plan - Week 1, Day 4

Rest Day

I had a run planned for today but life decided to get more busy than usual so I took the day off. The distance for today was 4 miles so missing those miles is less of an impact than skipping one of my core workouts like the long run or pace specific workouts.

My legs are feeling good but I think a day or two of rest will be good as I head into the weekend runs.

16 Week Marathon Plan - Week 1, Day 3

Great run this morning. Kept the pace easy again and went out in search of a couple of hills. It was dark outside so the hills didn't seem that daunting. Not a bad strategy when looking for a couple of hills to suffer on I guess.

Tomorrow's run will be another easy one and the rest day on Friday before a couple of good runs on Saturday and Sunday to wrap up the first week of marathon specific training. Might take off tomorrow if I have car issues then pick up on Saturday. We shall see!

Workout Summary
Actual Time:0:52:00
Pace: 7:57 per mile
Planned Distance:6 miles
Actual Distance:6.54 miles
Calories:763 calories

16 Week Marathon Plan - Week 1, Day 2

I found a marathon training plan that I will use until I come across something new. I'm going to use TrainingPeaks.com as the plan. It looks like a good hard plan with a lot of good run days with specific workouts. It is 16 weeks long, which is perfect and it actually follows what I was planning on doing for the first few weeks anyway! Very excited about my choice and will continue to blog my progress in hopes I can learn from the effort and come back to read my random thoughts along the way.

Dallas White Rock Marathon Training
Day: Week 1, Day 1
Time: 5:30am
Temp: 81F
Workout: Easy Pace
Distance: 4.35 Miles
AVG Pace: 7:48

Summary
Got out today at 5:30am again. Good times. It was not as hard to get up this morning because I knew what needed to get done. The first mile was very easy and I kept that pace throughout the run. I felt good, the weather was cooler than it had been so that was a nice change.

Tomorrow I've got about 6 more miles to run so I'm looking forward to a little more distance to add and a few more happy miles.

16 Week Marathon Plan - Week 1, Day 1

In addition to my random posts, I am going to be tracking my marathon training as I ramp up my mileage for the Dallas White Rock Marathon. I haven't ran the marathon in a number of years nor have I ran 50-60 miles per week, but I plan on changing that over the next 16 weeks. Today's run starts that journey and there will be more to come.

Dallas White Rock Marathon Training
Day: Week 1, Day 1
Distance: 4.35 Miles
Time: 5:30am
Temp: 85F

Summary
I ran a little over 4 miles today. I didn't have a training plan put together but I knew starting out in small increments would be a great place to start. I ran the first mile at about 8:00/mile. I then picked up the pace to about 7:00/mile for the next two miles. I finished the remaining 1.35 miles at about 8:00/mile pace again.

It was a good run. I felt good and the weather was only 85 degrees. The heat index said 90, but I didn't pay much attention to that. My tempo pace felt good and my legs didn't feel too thick like they had in the past.

Happy to have day one under my belt and looking forward to many more happy miles.

Training for a marathon by running the race route

My training for the Dallas White Rock Marathon has not officially started yet but I am starting to focus on some good routes to run to help prepare me for race day. The marathon is a long race and the path it takes loops around the heart of Dallas. Road closures, police escorts, and water stations make it a great day. Running the entire route without those handy helpers who make sure you don't get run over by oncoming traffic makes training for the race by running the route a bit difficult.

So, to prepare for the Dallas White Rock Marathon I am taking the route on one week at a time. Today, I ran a portion of the route that went through Uptown and Highland Park Dallas. Taking the marathon on in bite size distances like this seems like a good idea. I am able to see the topography of the race and get a feel for where I might be able to gain some ground on the flat and down hill portions.

I'm going to try to run the entire route with multiple 5-15 miles per effort before the race. I might actually end up running the route more than 1 time with all the long runs I have planned. I'll be sure to mix in a few random routes as well to make things interesting.