The Blahs and a Marathon Plan

Geez louise, this weather has me totally out of it. I've been so exhausted this week that I feel like I need coffee around 4pm. Not to mention the fact that I stayed up late Tues night to watch Losing it with Jillian. Did you see it? It will be on again next Tuesday at 8pm.

It's a great opportunity for families who are struggling with weight issues (as a result of other internal issues) to have Jillian help motivate them to shed some of that excess baggage! The first episode was pretty powerful. I even teared up at one point.

On the same note, I just started Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. While I'm not too far into it, it's the concept of fueling yourself and exercising properly to reach that optimal weight that allows for your body's best performance. This book is focused specifically toward the endurance athlete and not the average gym goer. At this point, I don't see myself going on any hard core nutrition plan, but I may find some easy tweaks I can make that will help during this next marathon training session.

And speaking of marathon training, I still need to select a plan. My friend D gave me a few of the FIRST programs which allow you to run 3-4 times a week, but focus on quality of exercise. One of these may be for me, but I need to go over them a little more. Interesting tidbit: FIRST stands for Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training.

There are so many training plans out there that I highly suggest you find one that really will work for you. Because if you choose one that won't (and I've done it before), your training will be haphazard rather than focused and strong. A few places I've chosen my former training plans from are the Runner's World training section and Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide by Hal Higdon. I also have friends who've paid for elite runners/coaches to write them a plan specific to them. If you've trained for and raced a half or full, how did you select your training plan? Did you create your own?

Okay, off to run in the rain! I hope it wakes me up before we start this 1,000m SPEED stuff. Ugh...

Comments

Lindsey said…
SERIOUS blahs! I can't believe all this rain in June!

Funny, I just had a "I need to start training for something" epiphany while sitting on my butt waiting for the rain to let up, and I decided to revisit my 1/2 marathon goal (just posted my thoughts on it). I decided by default to use Hal Higdon's plan because it's really the only one I know of, but it seems much more my pace than the FIRST plan you mention.

I'm really curious about other plans people use - I'm still shopping too!
Jim McDannald said…
Sassy-

I am using a McMillan Training plan that I bought on his website at www.mcmillanrunning.com. It wasn't super cheap, but I was able to get a program custom made for me. That includes one rest day and one cross training day per week. Since I've never run a marathon, we'll see how it all works out. In the future, I might experiment a little more on my own, but for the first one I am doing the training as suggested.
D said…
If you'd like to know more about the FIRST program, there is a book called "Run Less, Run Faster" by the people who developed the concept. I think it's a great way for folks like you or I to train for a marathon while still enjoying fantastic activities like cycling without fretting about a "missed run". I do believe by cross training you're less likely to develop muscle imbalances or injuries that plague many runners. I hope all goes well!
Anonymous said…
My Marathon plan was 100% based on what I knew would work for Me - I looked at H.Higdon's plan and knew right away that it didn't really mesh with the schedule I prefer. I always go with the Runner's World training programs - mostly because you can tailor them to what you like and how you run :)

I've also flipped through that Racing Weight book - the concept is definitely interesting, but I didn't find anything "new" in there. Either way, its always good to refresh on sports nutrition stuff :)
I've always used Hal Higdon's plans. I used his plan for my previous halves & the full I ran in '06 and his plans seem to work well for me. Maybe after this marathon I will consider switching it up and trying something new.

It's overcast & humid here today; coupled w/ the ridiculous sinus headaches I've had all week, I am feeling extremely 'blah'. I am really hoping that I can get a run in today as that will really help, but we'll see if I get another ridiculously paralyzing headache like I have the last 2 days. :( At least I am getting sick now & not during marathon training, though!!
Amber said…
We are using Hal Higdon for the full and will be running five days a week! I totally plan on easing it back to four days a week if that becomes too much though! I think the MOST important thing is listening to our bodies when we're training and not being controlled by what our schedule says!
Anonymous said…
I read Racing Weight from cover to cover and I loved it. I especially loved that there wasn't any specific weight that was given as *the goal*, but rather that the book hammered home the concept that your optimal racing weight is one that is naturally produced by your body if you treat it like it's supposed to be treated.

As far as trainig, I've decided to go with one of those elite runners/coaches and have her put together a very specific plan for me. I probably won't do this again, but since I'm hoping to a 10/10/10 marathon and am coming off of a pelvic stress fracture, it made sense to me.
Amber-Here, here! Yes, it can be tough to listen to your body when your PLAN says "Run 8 miles" or whatever. Sometimes though, listening to the bod is the smart decision.

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone! I need to get crackin' on making this decision. I guess running longer on the weekends for this half marathon doesn't have me too worried about selecting a plan yet.
Raquelita said…
It has been so humid here and there have been thunderstorms almost every other morning for the past week. I have a treadmill, but I much prefer to run outside, yet I'm scared of being hit by lightning....

After talking with some friends who had run a number of marathons, I used the Hal Higdon rookie plan as a base last year. I'm not sure it was my optimum plan, but it saw me through.

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