Marathon Training - Week 13 of 30

Image by ....Tim via Flickr

I'm training for my first marathon, which will be the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on December 4, 2011. My training week runs from Monday to Sunday. Today is Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!


First, a quick review of last week (week 12):

• Monday - scheduled rest - completed
• Tuesday - 3.5 mile run - completed
• Wednesday - 6 mile pace run - completed
• Thursday - 3.5 mile run - completed
• Friday - scheduled rest - completed
• Saturday - 8 mile run - completed
• Sunday - 1 hour walking - completed
• Total distance run - 21 miles

Last week was a step-back week, so my Saturday long run was shorter than the long runs I'd done the weeks before. It's amazing how 8 miles can feel like a relatively short run after you've been doing 10 and 11 mile runs. It didn't feel short, but it also didn't feel as long as it seemed a month ago when I did my last 8 mile run.

Now on to this week - Week 13.

The first 12 weeks are done.

That's significant because my 30 week program is actually a 12 week base training program followed by an 18 week marathon training program. To keep it simple, I've just been calling it a 30 week program. 

But since week 12 is now over, that means I'm officially transitioning to the 18 week marathon training program this week. Time to get serious!

For the next 18 weeks I'll be following Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program. 

The first few weeks are slightly easier than what I've been doing the past month or so as the base training program peaked (but it gets much harder!). I considered increasing the mileage of Hal's program for the first few weeks, but after consulting Mr. Higdon himself, I'm convinced that the best thing for me to do is to just follow the program and treat the next few weeks as if they were step-back weeks. 

By the way, if you're ever looking for a training program, I recommend checking out Hal Higdon's programs. I've used his training programs for the 5k, 10k, half marathon, and now for my first marathon. On his website you can find tons of training programs for a wide variety of distances and skill levels, as well as a ton of training advice. Also, you can ask him questions by visiting Hal's forums on Training Peaks. 

So here's what's coming up for Week 13 (Week 1 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program):

• Monday - scheduled rest
• Tuesday - 3 mile run
• Wednesday - 5 mile pace run
• Thursday - 3 mile run
• Friday - scheduled rest
• Saturday - 8 mile run
• Sunday - 1 hour walking
• Total running mileage - 19 miles

Have a great week!