Training Plan

Woke at 04:00 ready for my run, but the elements had alternate ideas, the weather is horrendous! Now, I don't mind running in the rain, I have even ran in hail, but wind is a different matter. Combine the two with the cold and an early morning get up... and... well, I'm still in bed! It's a good job we got to go on a long trek yesterday - 

It has given me chance to sit and think about my marathon training plan though. I have been looking online and it would seem that I am doing too much mid week (running 6 miles 3 x per week, mid week), which has an affect on my abilities for my long distance run at the weekend. Most plans are for 16 weeks, so starting in January, but as I run already I will be stretching mine out, making smaller increases to weekend distances. Here is what I have come up with for each week;

Typical Week

Day 1 - 5k run

Day 2 - Rest

Day 3 - 10k run

Day 4 - Rest

Day 5 - 5k run 1 week, hill training the next.

Day 6 - Rest

Day 7 - 6miles to start, then increase by 1 mile each week until a target of 22 miles is reached

Day 6 is a Saturday and I actually wanted day 6 to be day 7 however, at the moment I am in University every Saturday until December 13th, I will just have to deal with running on the most sacred day of sleeping for now.

This is not it though, I also need to build strength so in addition to the running I will also have this plan;

Typical Week

Day 1 - upper body and core at the gym (got to have upper body strength for balance and core strength for stability)

Day 2 - Circuits and bleep test in the park with my Rounders team (weather dependant of course, South Park gets very water logged)

Day 3 - lower body and core in the gym (building muscle strength in legs will help to run longer and faster)

Day 4 - I have swimming lessons this day, I am not a great swimmer! (Helps to stretch out tired muscles)

Day 5-7 - Friends, University, spending time with my boy!

As you can see training is not to be taken lightly and eats up a lot of time. People often ask why I run so early in the morning. Aside from the advantages to fitness with a morning run, it means that I can add other activities after work and still have time for a life. Don't forget that around all of this I have a full time job, university commitments, my boyfriend and most importantly my own time and space to think about... it's a crazy juggling act but someone has to do it.