It's a long way till October, when I'm scheduled to run my next marathon - the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. Coming off of the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon this past Feb 15, I am now ready to make an attempt at devising a training schedule for the next few weeks.
October is still a long ways away, and I have some time in between that I'd like to use to further my preparedness. With two marathons under my belt and my spring race schedule getting close to beginning now that February is behind us, I need to focus on what to do to get myself under 5 hours by October (and I hope significantly under 5 hours.)
After Ft. Lauderdale, I noted three things I needed to focus on:
1- Continuing to lose weight
After losing 65 pounds, maybe I got a bit complacent. Since July, I've hovered between 212 and 228 and feel as though I have largely plateaued. I believe the pain I feel in my legs at the late stages of marathons can be eased significantly if they didn't have to cushion the force of 200+ pounds each and every step. I am a bulky guy with a wide frame and I will never weigh even close to what a competitive marathoner might weigh. But 180-190 seems like a legitimate goal for me, and can only help ease the pain in my legs.
2- Strengthen my legs
Another way to alleviate the pain in the leg muscles would be to strengthen them. I do think that straight marathon training is a significant leg-strengthening exercise, but it's time for me to supplement that by dedicating myself to a weightlifting regimen, especially when it comes to legs.
3- Increase endurance
My high school math teacher was also the school's track coach. As a football player, I remember asking her what I should to get faster. Her answer was simple. "If you want to be faster, you have to practice running fast." Brilliant, right? Likewise, I think if I want to better my endurance, I should probably practice enduring. Having not done a long run greater than 10-miles before Ft. Lauderdale was likely a big mistake. I have to find a way to get out of my comfort zone during training, so that when it happens in a race, I'll be better prepared to deal with it.
With a 10k approaching on March 21 and my first half marathon of 2015 coming on April 26, those will be the two focal points of my calendar, and since I ran both of these races in 2014, it should provide me with a good sense of exactly how much I've improved from last year. After the half, I will be reevaluating again and adjusting the training schedule accordingly.
I try to give myself 6 workout days per week, allowing for one rest day. Typically, I plan the rest day for Friday, but with a 5 year old daughter I've learned that sometimes the best-laid plans don't always turn out the way you want. As such, I need to be flexible and be able to move the schedule around if need be, perhaps making up for a lost workout on a rest day or augmenting a planned workout to optimize the time that I do have. Devising a rigid workout structure that isn't adaptable to the occasional unknown circumstance can be very frustrating when life interrupts.
So, instead I cobble together a loose framework. Saturday is my typical long-run day, so I'll keep it there. Sunday will be light cardio session and then hit the weights, with focus on the upper body and only light legs, since they will likely still be a little sore from the long run. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday will all be running days. Sometimes I like to translate my running workouts to the elliptical since I get more calorie burn and it has a lighter impact, making me less susceptible to injury. But I plan on using these days for a mix of speed intervals, hills, and medium-distance runs. Stuck in the middle there will be Wednesday, which will be my other weight-lifting day. Only this time I will put a greater focus on the lower-body and really try to strengthen those legs so they don't hurt so damn much at Mile 21.
Sounds like a pretty good rough outline for now. We'll see how it works out in practice, and I'll definitely get a good reevaluation after the Cheshire Half-Marathon on April 26 and then begin to devise the summer-leg of my training schedule. If there are any trainers or running coaches out there that have any better ideas, I'd love to hear them.
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