NYC Marathon Training - Advanced Plan, Week 3 Recap

	NYRR Plan	My Training
Monday	4 Flex Day	43 Bike
Tuesday	6 Tempo	6 Tempo
Wednesday	Off	Off
Thursday	7 Regular	9.5 Regular
Friday	4 Hills	7 Regular
Saturday	5 AYF	5 AYF
Sunday	12 Long Run	13 Long Run
Mileage:	38	41 Run/43 Bike

90 Days to go. This week the mileage ticked up a notch to 41. I also decided to make my cross-training day a little more strenuous with a 43 mile ride on Monday. Wednesday was a lifesaver for my tired legs. No more of those for a while.

I'm finding that I look forward to the two-a-days I'm doing twice each week. It gives me time to run an easy 2 or 3 with my son and also keep my legs going with some additional mileage. I think a big part of the marathon preparation is learning to run on tired legs.

The hill repeats and the long run today were the two toughest days of the week. The hills test your short term toughness and the long run tests your endurance and mental fortitude. Both will help me become a better runner at any distance.

I need to develop a strategy for refueling on the run. Up until now, I haven't really needed to think about food and water too much. Today's almost 2-hour run reminded me that it is really important to take care of yourself. I experienced a few muscle cramps towards the end that I could have avoided. Nothing like daggers in your quads at mile 11 to remind you to be smart.

I've used Gu before, but I'm looking forward to giving the Sport Beans a try. I just have a difficult time choking down the pasty Gu product. Jelly Belly, if you need a product tester, just hit me up. Honey Stinger chews are also supposed to be pretty good, so I'm sure I'll find something that works.

Best of luck in your training efforts this coming week. Let me know if you've found a good strategy for refueling on the run.

NYC Marathon Training - Advanced Plan, Week 2 Recap

	NYRR Plan	My Training
Monday	4 Flex Day	35 Bike
Tuesday	4 Tempo	4 Tempo
Wednesday	Off	Off
Thursday	7 Regular	7 Regular
Friday	6 Regular	8.5 Regular
Saturday	4 AYF	6.5 AYF
Sunday	10 Long Run	10 Long Run
Mileage:	35	36 Run/35 Bike

This week started with a 35 mile bike ride on Sunday. Tuesday was an easy 4. Wednesday was off. Thursday was a regular run for 7. Friday I ran 6 in the AM and 2 in the PM. Saturday I ran 5 in the AM and 2 in the PM. Sunday was the LSD with a 10 mile run to end the week.

The legs are a bit tired today. I didn't mean to ride so far Monday, but got a bit lost during a long ride in an unfamiliar town. And, the PM runs were not really part of the plan, but were a nice way to spend some time with my favorite running partner- my son.

The NYC marathon seems kind of faraway right now. I know it's coming, and I know I'm going to be running through the five boroughs of the Big Apple, but right now it seems to be a bit of a pipe dream. However, it will be here in less than 100 days and I am very happy to have a training plan to keep me on track and help me to prepare for the longest race of my life.

Good luck to all of you putting in the miles this week. Let me now how your training is going. Anybody else following the advanced plan?

NYC Marathon Training - Advanced Plan, Week 1 Recap

	NYRR Plan	My Training
Monday	4 Flex Day	24 Bike
Tuesday	5 Regular	5 Regular
Wednesday	Off	Off
Thursday	6 Regular	6 Regular
Friday	6 Regular	6 Regular
Saturday	5 AYF	5 AYF
Sunday	8 Long Run	8 Long Run
Mileage:	34	30 Run/24 Bike

103 days, zero hours and 42 minutes until the official start of the 2013 NYC Marathon. This 30 mile week started off with a 24 mile bike ride on my flex day and ended with an 8 mile run on Sunday. I fit in a nice 5K race on Saturday to keep the legs alive.

The training plan has been manageable so far- easy enough to complete the miles and stay on track. Of course, the real test will come in the next month or two when the mileage doubles and I encounter distances I've never run before. However, I'm feeling confident right now that my training will be solid.

I track my miles and my pace with the Nike Sportswatch. I've jumped in with both feet and track my miles on NikePlus as well. I like the platform, but wish there was a way to edit runs. Sometimes I forget to hit the button after finishing a race and I walk around for twenty minutes before realizing my watch is still running. Unfortunately, there is no way to edit or trim the run distance. (You can use this limited work-around, but it's kind of lame.)

I don't like that you can't track bike workouts either. There should be another category for cycling that tracks time and reports back in mph and stores that data as well. Many runners are cross-trainers as well. It seems unfair to only see part of your efforts recognized.

Lastly, NikePlus can't import the data from DailyMile which means I continue to use that site to track my overall running miles, etc. On the plus side (ha, ha) Nike's portal does allow for friends to follow each other and issue challenges, has great trophies and badges, and the watch itself has been very reliable.

I'd like to run more without my watch, but I'm addicted to the feedback and data I can access. So, sometimes I just run with it, but never actually look at it. Okay, maybe just a peek now and then.

Run strong!

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!