Napa Marathon Training Begins

Today marks the first day of November, and just as I predicted last night, the holiday spirit is sweeping the country fast. Starbucks is already using their Christmas-themed cups.

With all the candy out of the house and a strong motivation to survive yet another holiday season without the need to replace all my pants, I am determined to start my second marathon training today. No more slacking and running casually with no accountability! Now I will run with purpose!

To plan my second round of training, I turned to the tried and true Hal Higdon site. To prepare for the Portland Marathon, I followed Novice 1 program, so this time it makes sense to step it up a notch and move up to Novice 2. I remember it took me over an hour to put together my first training program – researching, contemplating, modifying to accommodate vacation and incorporating other races. Second time around I spent less than 5 minutes – copy, paste, fill in the dates, make a few small tweaks, and done. I wonder if parenting is like that too?! First child you read every book, go to every baby store, take parenting classes, talk to all relatives and friends with kids to gather advice. For your second child, you pick up a child car seat on the way to the hospital (and yes, I did just compare pregnancy and child birth to marathon training. Both require endurance, stamina and pain tolerance, one just takes less time to complete and has fewer long-term consequences )

Behold my Novice 2 Training Plan:

Marathon Training Schedule: Novice 2
Week	Date	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	6-Nov	Yoga	3 m run	Cross	3 m run	Yoga	5 m pace	8
2	13-Nov	Yoga	3 m run	Cross	3 m run	Yoga	5 m run	9
3	20-Nov	Yoga	3 m run	Cross	3 m run	Yoga	5 m pace	6
4	27-Nov	Yoga	3 m run	Cross	3 m run	Yoga	6 m pace	11
5	4-Dec	Yoga	3 m run	Cross	3 m run	Yoga	6 m run	12
6	11-Dec	Yoga	3 m run	Cross	3 m run	Yoga	6 m pace	9
7	18-Dec	Yoga	4 m run	Cross	4 m run	Yoga	7 m pace	14
8	25-Dec	Yoga	4 m run	Cross	4 m run	Yoga	7 m run	15
9	1-Jan	Yoga	4 m run	Cross	4 m run	Yoga	8 m pace	17
10	8-Jan	Yoga	5 m run	Cross	5 m run	Yoga	8 m pace	12
11	15-Jan	Yoga	4 m run	7 m run	4 m run	Yoga	Rest	Half Mar
12	29-Jan	Yoga	5 m run	Cross	5 m run	Yoga	5 m pace	19
13	5-Feb	Yoga	5 m run	Cross	5 m run	Yoga	8 m run	13
14	12-Feb	Yoga	5 m run	Cross	5 m run	Yoga	5 m pace	20
15	19-Feb	Yoga	5 m run	Cross	5 m run	Yoga	4 m pace	12
16	26-Feb	Yoga	4 m run	Cross	4 m run	Yoga	3 m run	8
17	4-Mar	Yoga	3 m run	2 m run	Rest	Rest	2 m run	Marathon

 

I had to make slight modifications to the recommended 18 week plan. First I cut off one week as apparently I am already too late to cover full 18 weeks by March. Secondly, my half is not exactly in the middle of the training program, so I had to shuffle some teen runs around to accommodate.

By the end of these 17 weeks, I will cover ~450 miles. That’s about halfway from Seattle to San Francisco. Well, that doesn’t seem very impressive… Let’s try an East Coast comparison – that’s about the distance from Washington D.C. to New York City…and back. (Much better )

For all my readers, I wanted to explain the difference between runners and joggers. So next time you see someone bouncing funny while waiting for the light to change, go ahead and laugh, make fun of them. I won’t be offended

Tell me about the races you’ve signed up for. If you haven’t already, better to do it now before the mad New Year’s resolutioners take all the remaining slots! We all get cold feet, doubting whether we can push the distance, but you’ll never know until you try and believe me, you will be pleasantly surprised what your body can achieve if you treat it right.

Happy running!