My Time For A Marathon
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to running my first marathon. At this point, I have completed two half-marathons, several 5ks, a 10-miler, and I have been a runner for almost three years.
When it was released ago, I downloaded my copy of Yuri’s First Marathon Made Easy program. WOW! What an incredible tool to get me on track! It’s filled with page after page of excellent information. The plan is a 12-week plan (though I know I will need more time to be able to cover the distance of a full marathon), and the runs are scheduled for only four days a week…now THAT is manageable! I already run 4-6 days every week, so now it is a matter of increasing the distance.
I love the Marathon Treadmill Trainer (TT) Training Intervals that Yuri has included with the program. I have really grown accustomed to training with intervals. These MP3 guided runs are only about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes in total (can be broken up into 2 two-part segments for each of the three interval programs) and incorporate longer “work intervals” with very little recovery between intervals.
I have completed the Intervals 1 workout (in its entirety) about six or seven times since downloading the program – but I am going back to the drawing board to do that particular workout several more times before beginning any sort of “official” marathon training.
Right now, I am going to start the program as prescribed and use it as excellent conditioning to prepare me for my third half-marathon, which is coming up on April 30, 2011. When that is over, I am going to take some time for recovery as needed and set my sites on a full marathon, and dive into Yuri and Jill’s marathon training program with every intention on finally running my first full marathon! I anticipate needing about 24 weeks of full marathon training (after the half-marathon) simply because any run that is more than 14 miles (at this point in my life) really feels taxing to me. I want to allow enough time to recover after the half-marathon, which is usually my “peak race” of every season, and then focus on slow and effective training for a full marathon (perhaps as early as next fall!)
I really feel more confident than ever in my ability to eventually cover more miles during a single run, thanks to this great training program!
- Shannon
