All righty people! I’m now 21 weeks out from the Chicago Marathon. Well…to be precise, Sunday is 21 weeks out from the Chicago Marathon.
Due to that, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks freaking out about what program I’m going to use. My base isn’t quite where I want it (almost nonexistent) and I was seriously thinking of just bagging the whole thing. Why? Because I’m dramatic and irrational. I’m working on all of that. Anyway, it was pointed out to me that Chicago is over 5 months away and a lot of good solid training can be done in 5 months. It’s not like I’m a running newbie.
With that bit of information, I set out to find the “perfect” training plan for me. Guess what? I couldn’t find one. However, I did find one that I can totally bastardize and make my own. It’s just a build up of miles topping out around 48-50ish miles. There is one 20 miler and no speed work. It says to run harder on the days you feel like it. That does not work for me, so I will be doing some marathon spsecific speed work that I’m still researching. I am partial to tempo runs, progression runs, and fast finish long runs.
Since the idea of 21 weeks of training makes me want to barf, I’ve broken up the plan into different phases. My first phase is what I’m calling Feel the Base. It’s 9 weeks long and will give me a decent base. Take a look:
Nothing fancy at all. Just getting some miles on my legs. I do plan on sprinkling some fartlek runs, strides, and hills in. I’m also going to do a couple of cross-training sessions a week. Most likely some swimming and weights.
The full plan looks the exact same, but with miles building. Once I’m done building a base, I’ll adjust things as needed. I might be able to squeeze in a second 20 miler if things are going well. (I’d reallly like to do that, so we’ll see.)
The cool thing about what I’m calling my Bastardized Marathon Plan is that it’s pretty flexible. That lets me figure out how I’m feeling that day and adjust. I don’t like super rigid plans. Unfortunately, I’m not able to just wing it every day and know that things will work out. I have to have some sort of structure. (Thus the reason I’m planning out my base training as well.)
Is there anything I should add or that I’m missing? I’m super open to suggestions. Also, I’m actually excited about training. This is the first time in years that I’ve been excited about running. Maybe I’m getting back to normal.
All this talk about base…I have to throw some Miami bass down for y’all. They don’t call us the bass capital for nothing:
And yes…I’m break dancing right now. This song makes me think of dirty, sweaty warehouses. Hell yeah!
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