And so it begins

On Monday I am going to officially start training for my fall marathon. I am excited to be trying something new. For the first time ever, I have purchased a "customized" training program from an actual coach, exercise physiologist Greg McMillan. The way it works is you fill out a little questionnaire about your history, current and past training, and goals, and for $125 they send you back a 16 week training plan. Your plan takes account of everything going on in your life---which in my case, is the dog training and competing, and my daughter's upcoming wedding.

Could I have come up with a similar plan on my own? Probably. But I am hoping that having a plan created "for me" by a professional will give me a little more incentive to follow it vs. something I came up with myself. Anyway, for not much more than the cost of a pair of running shoes (or in my case, two pairs, since I like the cheap ones) I have this plan. Worth a try.

So far, I've only just skimmed the plan a couple of times but I have a couple of quick takeaways:

1) I need to pay more attention to recovery, i.e., what I eat after a race or hard workout, and what I do the day after. I generally eat well, but I have not paid specific attention to exactly what I might need in the hours after the workout to maximize my ability to recover. And too often I have done hard workouts on back to back days just to fit them in, without considering the benefit of rest.

2) When I've done speed work, I've been doing it too fast. I haven't been doing the workouts at the right pace to give me the maximum benefit.

3) I need to focus on getting the long runs done. I've struggled with them and I really have to fit them in.

4) I have to skip some races I might have done because they don't fit in with the training plan. I have to skip the ones that will get in the way of achieving my goal.

Mostly, it looks achievable for me if I just don't let anything else get in the way beyond the things that are already planned---although that 16-20 miler I am supposed to do on the Thursday before the wedding does give me pause.