November
Let's Review November's Training.
Well, the first month of training is complete. 5 months to go. Things went smoothly for the first month, and I followed the schedule pretty closely, missing only 1 Thursday run. We were getting ready for a weekend vacation, so I cross trained that night instead.
The weekday runs were on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and were between 3 and 4 miles each. I used an air glider for my cross training days, which were Wednesday and Saturday. I did sessions of 30 minutes each. Gave the legs some rest, and helped in upper body training. I'm giving some thought on adding some weight training, but I may wait until after the holidays.
Our first long run was a 6 mile run; our final long run of the month was 10 miles. My favorite was the second long run. We were in Niagara Falls. I took along my sweats and running shoes, and got up Sunday morning at 6:30 A.M., while my wife and daughter slept. I walked for 5 minutes to warm up, then began to run. What a great time. Not many people out, but lots of runners. The street cleaners were out, the birds covered the streets. The view of the American Falls greeted me, and the sounds of the Falls helped soothe the mind.
I ran past the Horseshoe Falls (we stayed on the Canadian side), along the Niagara River and viewed the river flowing over the rocks behind and leading to the Horseshoe. Turned around and ran back. Since there was still time left in the run, I ran around the Clifton Hills area and caught the sites from above where we stayed. Not knowing distances, I just ran for 1 hour and 20 minutes, figuring that would be around the 7 plus mile mark. It was great. I got back to the room before my family woke up.
If you ever go on vacation, take along your running gear. I would highly recommend it, and it doesn't interfere with your vacation (all I lost was a little sleep) This was probably the most enjoyable run I ever had.
On Thanksgiving day, I ran in a race. It was a run for the homeless. A 4 mile run, about half of it up some pretty steep hills, I finished in the 33 minute range. Butch Reynolds (Olympic gold medalist) was at the race and there were about 500 runners. I have 1 more race this year, then will run no more races until the marathon.
Total mileage for the month was 57 miles.
Decembers Plan
With 4 long runs scheduled this month, our last run should be around 13 miles. Once we get to the 12 mile long run, we will begin to make the long runs every other week. The Sunday runs between the long runs will be 6 to 8 mile runs. This gives the legs and your body sufficient rest and recovery time. Remember, these long runs should be run slowly, with a 1 minute walk break every 5 to 8 minutes. THIS IS IMPORTANT! If you run too fast, you're gonna get injuries. You need to take it slow and you will recover more quickly for the rest of your training.
The long runs are getting up there, so be very certain you drink plenty of fluids during these runs.
This will be a tough training month, with all the holidays, but it's very important for us to not skip workouts. The marathon is only about 22 weeks away.
That's it for this month. Check back in January for a progress report.