Marathon Training... Its begun

Sorry for my delayed absence from this little blogging corner of mine. My sister was home for a week and a bit so I was busy visiting with her, then my parents got back from a 3 week holiday so my schedule has been a bit out of wack after work hours. 

So, Marathon training has officially begun, as of Yesterday when I fit in my 'tempo' run...and for those wondering the plan that I am following, it can be found here: http://abbotsford.runforwater.ca/run/training , this is what my copy looks like:

Page 1, converted to miles and dates altered for Rock'n'Roll Seattle

Although I am Canadian, I 'run' in miles. I can't do the km thing, because mentally, that is just too many!!! My mental strength can be rather weak at times, so I do not need a looming number surrounding my run to psych me out.

 Why I liked this training option?

                     a- its simple (although I roughly followed a trianing plan last time, I didn't stick to it, and my marathon was a disaster, sooo lets try and stick to a plan!!) 

                     b- 3 runs a week, I cannot run 5-6 times a week and if I can squeeze in a 4th junk mile run I will, but if my body feels like its going to break I'm going to swim it out

                     c- it easily allows me to fit in the BMO half as the week prior to it is a recovery week! :D 

I have realized that marathon training is hard, mentally, physically, financially even (just because of how much your eating and the quality of foods your eating) so this time around, I would like to give it the respect it deserves. 

My plan is the following:

                      Monday - Tempo Runs

                      Tuesday- DVD workout 

                      Wednesday- Intervals/Hills (or circuit training)

                      Thursday -junk mile or I will do the Interval/Hills if I can only run 3 days a week

                      Friday- swim before work

                      Saturday-  Long Run Saturdays 

                      Sunday - Swimming 

Now I realize that to the outsider, it appears that I have no rest day, but  I should clarify. Because I am not too sure how my muscles will respond, Wednesdays may become a rest day and Thursday will be the Intervals/hills as noted above. Also, Swimming on Fridays would be by myself, and for me, swimming is extremely relaxing and it stretches out my back and hips in ways that yoga does for other people... I just do not have the patience for yoga, just like most people think swimming laps is crazy and boring, I have the same feelings about yoga.

As nothing is set in stone I will try and update every Monday my week plan, and do Recap Sundays to digress about how things are going. 

Happy Wednesday! Hope wherever you are you are using the start of March as a reset and have started a journey towards a new goal or an old goal you have been putting off.