Saturday, July 11, 2015

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon - Training Begins!

I'm pretty sure I said that I wouldn't do this again. That didn't stop me from signing up anyway.

On November 7th, I will be running my second full marathon. 26.2 miles through and around Indy at the Indianapolis Monumental.

I signed up on the same day I signed up for my first marathon. I had been considering it for a while and told myself I would make my decision by the time this popped up on Timehop.


It was also the day I hung this bad boy. A gift from my brother two years ago when I was training for my first. 


I've had a couple people ask why I would do it again. Well, it's the shortest marathon training I think I will ever have. I have a half already planned for September 12th (The REVEL Big Cottonwood Canyon Race) so I will already be training for that. In reality, I only have to tack on 6 or 7 weeks to that training to make it work. Plus, I just want to see if I can do better than last time. 

I will be following the Jenny Hadfield Intermediate Marathon Plan. I picked this one for a few reasons. 

First, it fits in with my newest obsessions - heart rate training. I've been doing a lot of research on the subject mainly based on "Heart Rate Training for the Compleat Idiot" by John L. Parker Jr. There's a great article that explains the concept in a few pages. Even more of a quick recap goes like this...

- Runners don't run their easy runs easy enough which can cause us not to run our hard runs hard enough due to fatigue and injury.  
- "Easy" runs now have a new definition. They're very easy and very slow (at first) and honestly, more enjoyable. (And, by slow, I mean slower than an 11 minute mile for me to keep my heart rate down. In contrast, I been running the half around 8:30.)

Second, I liked that this one has only four runs and two days of cross training. I know that five days of running doesn't work for me for a variety of reasons. And, a lot of marathon plans call for five or even six days. My plan is to run all four days as many weeks as I possibly can and get in a strength workout with Devon. Then, on the 6th day, attempt yoga or some other type of stretching. 

Finally, the weekly runs don't exceed an hour. Again, something else I've learned through the years that I need in a training plan. 

I managed to screw things up right off the bat by miscalculating how many weeks out and when to start. So, I missed the first week of 20. I think I'll be OK. 

Last week (Week 1) went like this...

Monday - 45 minutes 
Tuesday - Yoga
Wednesday - 50 minutes 
Thursday - Rest
Friday - 40 minutes
Saturday - 8 miles 
Sunday - Rest

Total for the Week - 20.5 miles

This week (Week 2)...

Monday - 45 minutes 
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 50 minutes with 5 Pickups (short bursts of faster pace) 
Thursday - Training - and this was a crazy one leaving me exhausted!
Friday - 40 minutes - this was my toughest run so far - see Thursday :) 
Saturday - 9 miles 
Sunday - Rest

Total for the Week - 22.1 miles
Total Training Mileage - 42.6

For today's run, my friend, Steph joined me. I texted her last night to see if she wanted to join me for any part of my run and she said she would try all 9. And she did it! Nothing to it! I was so glad to have her there - all the talking makes the time just fly by! We started at 6AM and were done by 7:30 which is an amazing way to start a weekend.  


Two weeks down... 17 to go!