Marathon Training Preparation

So finally did my marathon training plan for the Avenue of the Giants Marathon on May 2nd. I'm already 2 weeks behind!

I chose the Furman Institue of Running and Scientific Training (F.I.R.S.T) program. http://www.furman.edu/first/fmtp.htm I'm using the beginner program even though this will be my 7th marathon. The reasons are 1. The other programs cost $ 2. This will still be pretty intense for me because I've never focused on pace during my training.

The program consists of 3 running workouts a week. This allows for all the cross-training I want to do. Though this is one less run than I normally do a week, it's still an intense program. The first workout is a speed workout. It's been a while since I've done speed. Not really looking forward to this! The pace is based on my 10K pace, which I set as 53 minutes. Okay, so I've not run a 53 minute 10K, but I've run a 54 minute 10K on a course that wasn't easy. The pace for the speed workouts will be about 8:05/mile and 2:00 per 400m. This I can do. I did this at a track last weekend. The question is, can I do it consistently?

The second workout is a tempo run. I never do these. They sound painful. For this run, I'll get in a decent amount of distance 5-8 miles but a good portion of this will be run at an 9:35-10:05 pace. With the tempo speed increasing up to the marathon.

The third workout is a long run. I can do a long run, no problem. The pace on the long run is 20-45 seconds slower than my planned marathon pace (9:35) until closer the marathon when the speed picks up on the shorter long runs.

My goals for this training are:

1. to run my fastest marathon yet at a time around 4:11 (previous PR is 4:21 in 2005)
2. to not feel like marathon training is another full time job
3. to put more into my runs and training by allowing more focus on my runs

So my first full week of training starts Monday. My first long run will be that Saturday when I tackle the brand new Charleston Riverfest Half Marathon in Charleston, SC. The great thing about this race is that my plan for the day has me running at a 10:05 pace for 10 miles. I should be about to maintain that pace on the 'flat course' the organizers promised in the brochure. I think.