17 Weeks to Marathon

So, this is the last week of making excuses, because the official 16 week marathon training program begins tomorrow. This week marks the end of 11 weeks and 177 miles of pre-training that has been less than successful. However, I have learned not to push myself farther than I am ready, not to stack all my runs at the end of the week, the importance of core/cross training, to take breaks to nurse injuries, and to eat right after runs. Now that real training is about to commence, I am going to focus much more seriously on nutrition and injury prevention so I can run and recover gracefully from this marathon.

So, starting Monday I am going to follow an official marathon training plan, no excuses. I am thinking of using the Runner's World SmartCoach program; it has schedule flexibility and gives me pacing guides and tempo runs to help me not only finish my first marathon, but also finish it under 5 hours. Time for good decision making and discipline! If anyone wants to virtually train with me, get yourself a schedule and lets do this!

So here is to hoping there is less excuse-making and more celebrating! It's training time baby, and I'm about to bring it!