Up till 10:45 at night working on a training plan…
Justifying the Costco Nutella 2-Pack…
Daydreaming about running…
Researching hydration packs…
…because marathon.
Making the official blog announcement here today that I am running the 2015 Beat the Blerch full marathon on Sept. 12—a couple of weeks before my 38th birthday.
I am using Matt Fitzgerald’s 80/20 plan, which I will start May 11. Until then, I will be adding some extra super slow runs to my week. I will continue lifting using the Get Stronger Faster plan by David Dellanave from Jen Sinkler (Lift Weights Faster) 3x/week because I love it. I’m 3+ weeks into the plan already. (I had no idea I could squat triple digits in the rack!)
I chose Matt Fitzgerald’s marathon training plan because it focuses on increasing mileage through slow running with some speed lightly sprinkled in. From past experience, I know that I start to get hurt when I run too fast, too often. The idea is 80 percent slow running, 20 percent moderate- to high-intensity running. I am down with that!
My easy pace will be between about 11:30-12:15ish per mile and long run pace will be about 10:30-11:30. I’ll take it! Those are paces at which I feel I can run for a long time even now.
Thinking back to the Hot Chocolate 15K in February, all I was doing was lifting 3x/week and running slow for about an hour 1-2x/week plus a long run on the weekend, and I felt really strong in that race. Kim and I finished with a 1:32:51, and besides some sore feet I felt like I could’ve kept going.
You can watch the video of me and Kim crossing the finish line and holding hands here. Thanks for providing that Hot Chocolate race organizers!
I looked at the Run Less, Run Faster full marathon training plan last week and cringed. It had injury written all over it. For me, that plan is fine for a 5K, but not a 26.2-mile race. It might be great for others. Everyone’s different. The key is knowing yourself as a runner.
Beat the Blerch will be my second marathon, and I plan to see this one through. In 2013, I signed up to run the Seattle Marathon (which is in December—brrrr), but overestimated my enthusiasm and underestimated how much time I would actually have to train. I never really even got started training for that one.
I don’t feel motivated to run a marathon in downtown Seattle again (my first was the Rock ‘N’ Roll Seattle Marathon in 2011—on the old point-to-point course). I’ve run tons of half marathons there.
Beat the Blerch should be an excellent second marathon for me. I do most of my running on the trail by my house—a groomed, fairly flat dirt and gravel trail. The Beat the Blerch course is very similar. I’ve even run a portion of it before during the Mt. Si Relay.
I have a really good feeling about this marathon, and I am excited to get started training.
Hide your Nutella! This girl’s about to get her long runs on.