NYC Marathon Training - PreWeek

112 Days, 21 hours, 11 minutes to go until the start of the NYC Marathon 2013. This will be my first marathon and I am going to document my training experience leading up to that day here for any other would-be, could-be marathoners. I'm excited, but a bit nervous as well. It's kind of like the pressure you might feel if you ask someone out on a date that's a little out of your league and they say yes.

I've decided to follow the 16 week advanced training plan (starting next week) posted on the marathon site. I've added a few weeks on my own to the front end and also made some minor adjustments here and there to allow for a 5K race or two in place of 4M AYFs on Saturdays. It is rather ambitious, but I think that I can complete the training regimen and feel confident that I will perform well on race day. I'd like to break 3:30, but I'd love to break 3:15. A BQ would be a sweet way to start things off at the 26.2 distance. But, we'll see. There are a lot of mile to cover between July and November.

I completed a 30-mile week today with a 10 mile long run in HHH (hazy, hot, & humid) weather. We're on the verge of another heat wave here in New Hampshire and training runs are challenging. I had to bargain with myself after 7 miles to make it to the finish. I ran at a slow 8:16 pace, but it kicked my butt today. Runs like these make you wonder about the distance of the marathon.

On the injury front, I've been struggling with a strained tendon attached to my big toe. It causes pain across the top of my foot and sometimes spreads under the arch as well. I'm using KT tape and that seems to help a lot, but it was talking to me today. Ice and a cross-training day on the bike tomorrow should help.

To all of you out there working hard to train for your races, I salute you. Keep up the good work and continue to run strong!