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Today I officially started my marathon training program.  Yes, I know you're envious--18 weeks of lactate threshold increasing, V02max building, endurance escalating, limit pushing fun.  My plan--largely based on Pfitzinger's 18/55 plan which is 18 weeks building weekly mileage to 55 miles. 

To be fair, the plan is also authored by Scott Douglas, but everyone just refers to it as a Pfitzinger plan, or Pfitz for short.  Sorry Scott.

Today's workout--an 8 mile run with 4 miles at Lactate Threshold pace.  For me that works out to a pace between 8:53 and 9:10 (Heart rate 148 - 165).  So, I set the alarm for 5:30 and away we go with a zoom!

I couldn't sneak out the door without waking the dogs, so they got to come for the first mile and a half.  Then I dropped them off and went out for more.  I pushed up near LT pace, but because it was uphill, my HR was already there so two miles of LT.  After that, I realized that I needed to add a little to my route, so I explored some new ground.  I found a trail that went along the Magalia Reservoir--this turned out to be a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride of a trail, so I had to go a little slower for the two miles of trail.  Finished up with two more at LT pace. 

Viola!  First day of training in the books.  To bolster my legendary fame and running prowess, I am counting the half marathon training as part of my total training bragging rights for the marathon.  That puts me at 318 miles down, approximately 800 to go.

Unicycle Cross-Training

My brother Jeff called yesterday.  Jeff has been one of those inspirational big brothers.  He has run the St. Loius Marathon, done the Sears Tower Climb a couple of times (he's training to do it again).  Way back in my first semester of college, he taught me how to juggle as a helpful procrastination method. 

About 6 years ago he gave me one of his old unicycles (a classic Schwinn 24") and told me I had to learn.  After about 5 years of mostly letting it collect dust, last spring I finally took to learning it in earnest.  I spent a lot of time at the local tennis courts.  Tennis courts are great for unicycle practice because they are nice and flat and have chain-link fence surrounding them, which is ideal beacuse you have something to hang on to.  After a good bit of work, I managed to graduate to being an official level 1 unicycler who can:

• mount unicycle unassisted
• ride 50 meters
• dismount gracefully with unicycle in front

Six years to get to level 1--that's the equivalent of spending six years in first grade.

Back to yesterday's call.  Usually he calls to rub in how my neice or nephew are doing laps around my unicycle ability--my nephew is working on level 2.  Even my brother's six year-old neighbor is learning.  My brother's latest stunt is riding 2+ miles on his unicycle. 

So, the conversation progresses and he challenges me to get after progressing to the next level.  I give what I think is the ultimate excuse: "I'm training for a marathon."  He responds, "Then unicycle as cross-training."

Ok, he got me there.  So, once a week on one of my "rest of XT" days, I'm gonna work on the uni!

Running and Reading

Whew!  It's been a few days since my last post.  I have been trying to catch up from the Half Marathon last week.  I am also trying not to become that guy who obsesses completely over running. 

But I am also at a bit of a decision point.  I am in between two training cycles.  I successfully completed my Half Marathon (yeah, I know it doesn't need to be capitalized, but to me it's capital letter worthy)--no major injuries, met my goal, yada, yada, yada.  I am now getting ready to transition into training for the San Francisco Marathon.  The only problem is that I have yet to pick a training plan.

Enter the reading.  Right now I am pretty much reading anything I can find on the topic of marathon training plans.  What I am finding is that while there are are lot of free half marathon plans online, full marathon plans tend to require an investment.  First stop--the local library--to my dismay, they only have one book on running, The Idiots Guide to Running by Bill Rodgers.  Nothing wrong with Bill Rodgers, but this book is written more for the entry level runner and not real specific to marathon training. 

Next stop, my favorite local used book store, Books of Paradise.   These guys are getting ready to close their brick and mortar store and transition to just online sales, so on my first visit, they are selling everything for 60% off.  They only two books on running:  Galloway's Book on Running, by Jeff Galloway and The Complete Book of Running, by James Fixx.  I read Jim Fixx way back in the day, so I opt for Galloway.  A few days later, I find out via Facebook that the bookstore is having a "every book is $1 sale," so I figure I might as well pick up Fixx for a buck. 

While I'd like to give a little respect to the dead, the Fixx book is not really turning out to be helpful on the specifics of marathon training.  Galloway, on the other hand, has a thorough plan for training for marathons and differentiates between goals of finishing and various time goals--now we are getting somewhere.

In my internet browsing on the topic, I keep reading about Pfitzinger's marathon training plans (and some insane workouts on the way), so I decide that to be thorough, I ought to pick up a copy of Advanced Marathoning.  The local Barnes and Noble didn't have it, but Amazon.com to the rescue--the book will be delivered by my friends at UPS any minute now (What can Brown do for me?  Bring my book!).

I used a hybrid Galloway/F.I.R.S.T. plan for my half marathon trianing--mainly because I only had 10 weeks to move from 5K fitness to the half marathon.  But there are some very appealing things to me in Galloway's plan.  I especially like that he has you do long runs of at least your race length, if not longer.  For the HM, this meant I worked up to 16 miles--compared to some plans that have you peak out at 10-11 miles.

However, for the marathon, I am wanting to put in a larger base of weekly miles and the Galloway marathon plan for a 4 hour marathon only builds weekly mileage into the mid-40's.  Enter Pfitzinger.  I am strongly considering what is commonly called the Pfitz 18/55.  It is an 18 week program that builds up to 55-mile weeks. 

I realize that I am a novice, not an advanced marathoner, but I also realize that I am venturing into a world that I know nothing about, so I thought I'd like to get some race-specific info as I launch into this. 

The best part, I get to build on my previous training cycle and count the miles toward my marathon goal:  241 miles down, approximately 700 to go!

Does Thinking About Running Count?

Yesterday, I missed two miles of speed work. I did four miles in the morning and was planning to head to the track in the early evening. My wife wanted to start running a little and she thought the track would be a nice place to start. Unfortunately, she got called to take minutes at a school board meeting and we had to cancel our run.

This morning I thought about getting up and putting in the missed miles from yesterday. I sat in bed listening to the sound of the wind wipping leaves around outside and decided that the warm bed seemed like a nicer idea.

So instead of a make-up run, I spent some time planning out my training plan for after the Bidwell Classic in March. There is a possible "next goal" race this summer that I am starting to scratch out a training plan for. So me and my Excel spreadsheet began to see how I can get in the mileage after recovering from my first half marathon. Two goals: add mileage safely (trying to stay near the 10% rule) and get my overall mileage up into the 40 mpw range.

It should be fun!

Four Weeks to Go!

Four weeks from tomorrow I will be running my first Half Marathon.

I can't wait! That means I only have two more weeks of hard training. After that I get two weeks of taper leading to the race. Can I do it? You bet! Last Sunday's long run was 13.4 miles, in the dark, while raining, and over hilly terrain.

Now, just because I can do it, doesn't mean I am taking the next few weeks of training lightly. Here's what the next two weeks have in store:
2/6 9 mile long run
2/8 6 miles with intervals (4x400, 2x800, bleachers)
2/10 7 mile tempo run
2/11 2 miles easy
2/13 15 mile long run
2/15 6 miles with intervals (2x200, 2x400, 2x800, bleachers)
2/17 7 mile tempo run
2/18 2 miles easy
2/20 17 mile long run

After that I head into my taper until the race.

Bidwell Classic here I come. My goal: finish! I'd love to come in under 2 hours, but finishing is the main thing.