Marathon Training and a Yoga Outing ~ Born and Read in Chicago

Yes, I'm writing my first training recap/preview post starting with week two (er, four?) since I was a wee bit ill last weekend and didn't feel like writing, or eating for that matter! So, to explain the confusion over what week of training I'm on...

I think it was pretty clear from my research that the Run Less, Run Faster plans really spoke to me, being centered around the idea of the three quality runs a week. I decided on doing a Run Less, Run Faster (henceforth to be named RLRF) plan that I found on the internet. Since it's a 16 week program, I thought I'd prepare myself by following the first two weeks of the 18 week Higdon Novice 1 program with the first two long runs being 6 and then 7 miles, respectively. This dovetailed nicely with my slow and steady December and the runs felt great. So when it was time to start the RLRF plan, I realized the first week started with a 10 mile long run. Hmmmm... That's kind of a jump up from 7 miles, and the midweek runs are a bit longer, too. In chatting with a fellow Eugene trainee on Twitter about our weekend long runs, she mentioned she was only doing five. I had to ask, wait, what plan is this?? Wouldn't ya know, it was the Higdon program that I had been following, and the next week was a step back week; I just hadn't really looked past those first two weeks. I would veer uncomfortably out of the 10% weekly increase territory if I switched over to RLRF. And, as I looked further on the RLRF long run schedule, it seems to accelerate pretty quickly and included two 20 milers. I'm thinking that's not necessary for a first marathon; one 20 miler is just fine by me. Technically, I'm not trying to 'run faster' - just FINISH. It's pretty obvious where this is going, right? Hal Higdon it is! Exactly, but with a catch: I decided to get the RLRF book from the library and the novice program in there is nothing like the one I found from the Runner's World article linked above. In fact, the long runs pretty much mirror the Higdon program, including just one 20 miler.

So, my hybrid approach:

follow the Higdon mileage three days a week while trying to incorporate some of the speedwork and paces suggested in RLRF novice program
instead of a fourth run, substitute the shortest run day (usually a 3 miler) with 1 hour of bootcamp as cross training to avoid burnout and combine the 30 or so minutes of cardio I would have done running, along with 30 minutes of strength
do some yoga on Sundays

This last bit should be a bit easier now that I've been introduced to Jasyoga. I had a wonderful opportunity to get in a session with the owner Erin Taylor at Oiselle HQ over the weekend and it was awesome. When I think of yoga, I shudder at the idea of trying to hold my shaking, protesting body in some crazy position while attempting to zen out. Ha! I'm looking at YOU warrior three... Not fun. But Jasyoga specializes in yoga for athletes, and any muscles shaking I experienced felt good. I learned all kinds of cool stretches and poses that made my legs and hips feel so refreshed, not taxed. I've already started incorporating some moves into my nightly stretching routine: legs up the wall (which you can check out here) is the popular favorite.

I mean, just LOOK at how happy my legs were afterwards! Well, that can also be attributed to the coziest pants in the whole world.

I'm going to declare this week five of marathon training, as the first four of Higdon have gone well, with the exception of last week because I was sick; I did manage one 3 mile run and 7 out of the 9 miles called for on the long run. Here's how I'm breaking down this week:

Monday - 3 miles (tempo-ish)
Tuesday - Rest (starting baby girl back in Toddler Group, so Tuesday is the new rest day)
Wednesday - 3 miles (4x800)
Thursday - bootcamp (in lieu of another 3 mile run)
Friday - rest/maybe some elliptical
Saturday - 10 miles
Sunday - yoga and extra stretching