Great to read about everyone's runs (good and bad!). Hope the 15 miles went well, Laura.

An incredible sunny Oregon day! I ran 2.75 miles today at just under 11 minutes per mile. No knee pain! I debated about adding that .75 so soon after my first run, but everything seems to be okay. It's wonderful to be getting back to my usual pattern of running Wednesday and Sunday. Probably going to stick with just two days for a while.

I ran 15.5 miles, and it felt fantastic! I'm a bit sore today - mostly in my ankles. Usually I get sore in my calves, and they're not really sore today, which is good - means I finally learned the best way to stretch them :) The ankle soreness isn't bad, and I'm sure will be gone by tomorrow.

So now that I've gone this far, I'm thinking I want to attempt a marathon. Helen (and other marathoners): what training plan do you use? I've seen a lot online, but I would ideally prefer not to go through a whole 16 week plan - I'd rather do a marathon sooner. My work schedule is so unpredictable that I don't know if I can keep it up for 4 months - it's a lot easier for me to plan for the short term. It seems like my running so far has already kind of followed a plan, so I'd like to take a 16 week plan and start at week 9 or something. Does that seem reasonable?

I use a plan from Runners World, depending what time you're aiming for there are plans that would have you at about 15 at week 9 or so, so it's not impossible, but I tend to think that the longer you spend building up to a marathon the easier it will be. I personally feel like I could have done with another 6 months or so of base training before I did my first, but then I suppose I know other people who start running once they get their marathon entry confirmed and manage it just fine.

Remember that if you have a 16 week schedule, the last 3 weeks will be a taper which means that if you jump in at week 9 you only really have a month of full on training. If what you've done in the past month or so looks vaguely similar to weeks 4 - 8 of a plan then it might work.

It also depends what goals you're aiming for. You've already run 15, and I know plenty of people who have done marathons on less than that - but they've run/walked it, and not got the times they could have done with more training. If your goal is just to say you've done one, then you'll be fine. If you want to give it a really good shot, taking more time to build up to it might be sensible.

Nice easy eight miles for me today - quite proud of that, it's my longest run to date! :D

Wow, way to go Heather!

Laura, awesome run! I hope you find a good marathon plan!

Today was a rest day for me.

Hi all.

Congrats to Laura and Heather on the longer runs!

Today was supposed to be a rest day for me, but my sister was off work and wanted to get together for walking and running today. Since she is just starting, and could only run for a minute before needing to walk, I decided to try running that minute at a faster pace than normal, then walking for 2 minutes. What I tried to do was to make it halfway around the track in that minute, making my pace about 6 mph. The first 3 were easy enough. The last 7 were hard, but not too hard. I did run one lap faster than that, but it was too much, and recovery took too long, so I cut it back. Overall, it was an awesome workout, so I think I'll make this a weekly workout, sticking to my comfortable slower pace for the straight runs.

Sorry, I know I didn't cover all the newer posts, but it's late here and I'm wiped out. I'm off to bed! Tomorrow I will take a rest day.

Cheryl

It's so cold. I thought it was bad enough on the club run last night, but this morning my interval session was so cold that I had to pick the ice crystals out of my eye lashes when I finished. It started to snow midway through too, so I was a bit worried about slipping particularly on the fast bits, but I made it here in one piece, and probably kept warmer running through it than if I'd walked from the bus stop. My body was fine, it was just the exposed bits that felt the cold a bit.

Wow, Helen - I just glanced through some of your early entries in your blog - and read about you running 5K for the first time at the gym - girl, can I be you when I grow up? Look how far you've come!!! Awesome! :cheer2:

Laura - I use Hal Higdon as my base plan and adapt from there..

http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00novice.htm

Novice 1 you would be about week 10 of an 18 week program, Novice 2 you would be about week 8 of an 18 week program.

If you are just looking to finish you could probably start there, but it wouldnt hurt to give it a little longer.

Part of marathon training is getting your body used to the distance--same as part of getting to your first 5K. Hurrying the process is going to greatly increase your chances of injury--and of either not making your distance on your schedule or of completing the distance once, injured, and never running again.

Hi everyone!

Not sure if you remember me I'm kinda quiet here.

I'm signing up for a Triathlon! Just deciding on which one.

I'm upto 3 mins run and 2 minute walk for an hour now. Up to 36mins of an hour total running. Really pleased with my progress.

Its so cold/snowy/icey here though... and I walk to the gym it's be a true test of my dedication.

I guess my point about the distance is... I've basically been unintentionally following a marathon training program for about 2 months. I didn't follow a specific plan, but if I look at my mileage, it maps pretty closely to the standard plans. A half-marathon is now a comfortable long run for me, and even the 15.5 miler I did on Sunday felt very good, and I wasn't sore after. So I think I'm ready to jump into the middle?

Having done marathons both ways....the longer and slower you can ramp the more you will enjoy the marathon. I would say if you can...repeat the 12-16 mile distance a couple times. What are your options for marathons? How many weeks out? Look at races and pick one you really would like to do and see.

I wouldnt say you should necessarily go back to week 1, I never do week 1, but I take the full 16-18 weeks (or more...a lot of the work I am doing now is to prepare me for October marathon) I would be more inclined to repeat weeks 4-8 of a program twice than cut my current distance to go back to week 1. Long term I try to always be "half marathon ready".

You say 4 months sounds like a long time to train...but what are your long term plans for running? What is after the 4 months? That might give you an idea of how to tailor a training program.

I should add...that while you have been ramping like you were following a standard program, most programs say you should have been running a year before starting...6 months at the minimum. I dont know what your history is, but that can affect how safely you can ramp up.

between 16 and 20 is where it gets significantly harder.

Thanks, Ennay. Basically, I'd like to keep running for the rest of my life... but my job makes it really impossible to make any kinds of plans like that. Lately I'm working about 70 hours/week, and am traveling for work - which makes it much much harder to work out. I've been good about working out, but can't really go running when I'm traveling b/c I'm only at the hotel until 7:30 AM each morning, and get back at around 10 PM every night. 10 PM to 6:30 AM aren't really good hours to be running in a strange city, unfortunately.

Also, this project that I'm on now isn't even considered a high burn project. I've done months where I worked 90+ hours per week, and barely had time to sleep. There's no telling when I might get on one of those again, so that's what I mean by it's hard for me to plan four months out.

Scary that between 16 and 20 is where it gets tough! I'm going to aim for 17 this weekend I think.

Laura - I saw you post in the other thread - what's a 'foam roller'? I only know that as something to paint the walls with! :lol: