I trained for 24 weeks straight in preparation for Grandma’s. I added weeks into Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I program to make the program work for my scheduled marathon. I stuck to the program and even included speedwork. But, I don’t know if it worked or not because the marathon Gods were not looking out for me on race day. At least, they were not granting me the BQ that I was after.
After many weeks of purposeless runnning, I am happy to be “in training” again. I will follow Hal’s Intermediate program again and include the speedwork as I did before.
Here is how my next 18 weeks look:
Day 1 of training for CIM is actually a cross training day. That’s just how the schedule works.
Monday: Cross Training
Tuesday: Short Run plus Strength & Stretching
Wednesday: Sorta-long run for speedwork
Thursday: Short Run plus Strength & Stretching
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: Run at Marathon Race Pace
Sunday: Long Run
I decided to spin for 30 minutes to kick off the program. I thought back to the days where my mind was more focused on the goal than today. It wasn’t like those good old days. My mind wandered from TV to TV as I listened to my iPod. There was the cooking show, All My Children, and other various shows on. I clicked past a few songs to ones that got me going in the past, but they didn’t have that effect today. Today, my legs were fatigued but not sore. I just went through the motions. Spin – spin – spinning the 30 minutes away. I even added a small amount of abdominal work. Just enough to know that I need to do more.
That program looks demanding and comprehensive. I think it might work!
I like the program you’ve outlined. And, it’s just one rest day per week. That’s interesting.
I hope that you can catch up with the ‘purpose’ again and enjoy this training session. Take care.
Holy crap, Juls! That’s a lot of running! I looked at the intermediate program and its just too tough for me at this stage, and the beginner’s program is too lite, so I’m kind of going it alone. Good luck in your training…
Hal’s programs are nice in that the pattern is predictable. Tuesday and Thursday match and Wednesday and Saturday usually match (in miles) too.
I like the regularity of Hal’s plans. The pattern is easy to follow.
I did this same program before, and have considered the Int II, but I just don’t feel that I am ready for that mileage commitment yet. There’s too much other stuff going on in my life right now.
Wes: You could delete one of the short days, like delete out all of the Tuesday workouts or just decrease the mileage equally across the weeks.
Everyone: Thanks for the comments and support.
Good luck with the training program. Have you done CIM before? It’s a great race, and a fast course. Probably the best place in California for a BQ.
Good luck with training, and at the race. This plan is interesting… I too like the consistency.
Keep up the good work!