A New Approach

Since I have been unable to get into a very good training rhythm since well before my last marathon, I've decided to try something different. I have taken Pfitzinger's 12-week, 55-mile plan and have created a schedule that includes an entry for the workout prescribed by the plan and an entry where I enter what I plan to do. I'm going to look at each upcoming week on Sunday night, assess how I feel, what I did the week before, what races are on the horizon, etc. and adjust accordingly. For instance, I changed up this week's schedule because I got a terrible night's sleep on Monday and just couldn't get up early enough on Tuesday to do 8-10 miles. I did 5 miles on the trails yesterday, then just under 10 this morning (not that I slept any better last night). I'll do 5 with some strides tomorrow and then hope for the best on Saturday's 10K.

Since I'm writing off a BQ again, I feel like this new approach will enable me to stop being a slave to a schedule, while still keeping the indisputably valuable training elements which makes the Pfitzinger plan so popular, which has led so many marathoners to find great success after following it.

Since I've been feeling better and better during and after each of my recent runs, I hope to continue this momentum through my upcoming training, shorter races and into the final push for a healthy start at Chicago.

-ESG