Carlsbad Marathon

After a horrific first Marathon at Long Beach in 2014 I (think) I'm ready to get back on the horse and run another one.  I went out too fast or I overtrained or I just failed - not sure which - probably all three, so this time I hope to learn from all of those mistakes.

At Long Beach after flaming out around mile 13 and walking most of the second 13 miles, along with horrible cramps and watching pace group after pace group pass me by before finally hobbling to the finish, I vowed to redeem myself, somehow in some way!

So here I go again into the abyss of marathon training.  THIS TIME I'm going to follow the plan more closely - for Long Beach I typically ran faster than the plan thinking this was a good idea.  Turns out it wasn't.  For Long Beach my taper wasn't really a taper - and when I toed the line I felt tired before the race even began.  By mile 13 I was done.

I really was a training rock star - exceeding all of the distances and paces and it was all just too much.  Besides I actually like running and it felt good.  Probably also liked to see the results on Garmin Connect and Strava.  But I paid dearly for it on race day.  THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN (or will it?)!

So follow along as I try to keep it under control and have an GOOD experience on race day.

That all said my Big Goal this time is to FINISH HAPPILY.   Here are my other goals:

1. Break 3:45
2. Break 3:30
3. BQ (under 3:25)

So Carlsbad Marathon here I come!

I've seen mostly women chronicling their marathon training and I'm for equality so I'm going to post my training log here for the world to see.

I'm going to try to follow the Hansons Plan - since I -just- decided to follow this plan I missed the first 2 weeks of it!  How's that for off to a flying stop?

But fear not dear reader!  I have been running 2 tempo runs (5.5 miles) and 1 long run (10ish miles) a week for the past several weeks so all it not (yet) lost!

Early last week I had a very nice run (5.9 miles just under 7:00mm pace) which has given me confidence so I'm feeling pretty good.  And if there is ANYTHING I have learned while running is confidence, or the mental side of running, is just as important as the physical stuff.  I'm always amazed how much better/faster/stronger I feel when NOT looking at my watch (Garmin 220) vs. when I do.

SO here are my paces for this training cycle:

Goal Pace:  07: 38 /MI
Strength Workouts:  07: 28 /MI
Speed Workouts:  06: 43 - 06: 60 /MI
Easy Days:  8:38 - 9:18 /MI
Long Runs:  8:08 - 8:23 /MI

Pulled directly from the Hansons site to run a 3:20:00 marathon.  Now I do NOT expect to run that fast during the race but I want to train at that speed to give myself some wiggle room during the actual race.  Maybe I'm sandbagging but I do struggle with the mental side of things during races so I want to ensure I have the fitness so I do not have to kill myself during the actual race to hit one of my goals.  It's sad but true I guess.

So follow along!  I will continue to update here as well as Garmin Connect and Strava (they are sync'ed) as to my progress.  I promise to publish at minimum weekly with how the week went and possibly more often as time permits!

This blog is mostly for me - to keep me motivated and share my story with who(m?)ever finds is useful!  Would love to hear anyone else's experience marathon training - thanks for reading!