A Training Plan...

If I had known my sister was on top of this training plan thing, I wouldn't have worried nearly so much about it.  She ran her last marathon in 2001 (I think she said the Marine Corps Marathon) and worked with a trainer and saved all the training info she got from that experience.  She thinks we are about in the same place since I've never ran a marathon and it's been 11 years since she has.  Probably true.  I should probably start with the basics!

Date (long run) Sun      Mon    Tues    Wed    Thurs    Fri    Sat

5-May              Rest      X         3          X         3        X   4 mi
12-May            Rest      X         3          X         3        X   4 mi
19-May            Rest      X         3          X         3        X   6 mi
26-May            Rest      X         3          X         3        X   6 mi
2-Jun                Rest      X         3          X         3        X   6 mi
9-Jun                Rest      X         3          X         3        X   8 mi
16-Jun              Rest      X         3          X         3        X   6 mi
23-Jun              Rest      X         4          X         4        X   10 mi
30-Jun              Rest      X         4          X         4        X   6 mi
7-Jul                 Rest      X         4          X         4        X   10 mi
14-Jul               Rest      X         4          X         4        X   12 mi
21-Jul               Rest      X         4          X         4        X   8 mi
28-Jul               Rest      X         4          X         4        X   14 mi
4-Aug               Rest      X         4          X         4        X   14 mi
11-Aug             Rest      X         4          X         4        X   Half Marathon
18-Aug             Rest      X         5          X         5        X   16 mi
25-Aug             Rest      X         5          X         5        X   18 mi
1-Sep               Rest      X         5          X         5        X   12 mi
8-Sep               Rest      X         5          X         5        X   20 mi
15-Sep             Rest      X         5          X         5        X   12 mi
22-Sep             Rest      X         5          X         5        X   22 mi
29-Sep             Rest      X         5          X         5        X   12 mi
6-Oct               Rest      X         5          X         5        X   3 mi
October 7th MARATHON!!!

X = CrossTrain: Swimming, bicycling, yoga/pilates/weights
 
The only thing I am changing is that it starts out running 3 miles during the week at the beginning.  I run four miles on a regular basis and see no reason to quit... it would be like going backwards... right?

My most favorite thing about this training plan is that is starts with a rest day.  How lucky am I? 
 
My sister also threw in this whole thing about nutrition... which most of it I'm doing already... (yay)... except for the one sweet a week.  I have a horrible sweet tooth.  Horrible.  This will be good for me.  I need some sort of motivation!  But it is also good that it starts after Easter and my birthday!  And also too bad for me that I bought a countertop ice cream maker last summer.  Again, probably really for the best for me.
 
Thoughts?  Opinions?  How does this compare to any marathon training plans that you have ever done? 
 

If you're here from Fitness Friday... welcome! 

I can't have anything...

I'm home for Spring Break this week.  We decided not to go out of town in favor of painting the outside of the house.  Yeah I know.  Life around here is more fun than Disneyland.  Maybe it had to do with the fact that we have almost a $1000 worth of paint in the shed that we bought in October to do this.  That's where my Spring Break vacation is.  Stuck to the house.

I should be more honest.  My Cute Husband is painting the house.  I am deep cleaning the inside.  Not that it needs it or anything.  I think there are some dust bunnies that were getting ready to carry us off into the night. 

During this process, I was cleaning out the drawer where all of our energy food is kept.  The Clif Bars, the Powerbar chews, the Nuun I got from entering their contest last year.  My Cute Husband doesn't care for the taste of Nuun so I've been the only one using it.  While training for my half marathon last fall, I used a little bit, but four tubes goes a long way.  I think each tube has something like 12 tablets in it.  During my training I opened each tube to see what each flavor tasted like.  My favorite is grape.  Needless to say, since I haven't been running really long distances lately and it hasn't been super hot, I haven't used a lot of my Nuun lately.  I was saving it for my Chicago marathon training this summer. 

You noticed I said *was*?

While cleaning out this drawer, I picked up the Nuun bottles and noticed that they seemed a lot lighter than the one I had that wasn't open.  I looked inside.  One lone tablet lie at the bottom of each tube.

One.

In conducting the investigation into what happened to my Nuun, I found that my 14 year old son wanted something to eat.  In this process, he decided that in the snacks I have available to him, which include apples, bananas, popcorn, cheese & crackers, and many other things depending on the day and how long it's been since I've been to the grocery store, there was nothing that he cared to eat.  He thought that eating Nuun tablets straight out of the tube were his best bet.  He kept doing it for days, thinking that I would never notice one or two gone, until, one day there was only one in each tube left so he decided he should quit.  No one ever said he has any common sense.

He had no idea that he had eaten almost $30 worth of Nuun tablets. 

Yes, this is why I can't have anything nice.  And also why I dream of beating my head against the wall some days.

Sometimes I wonder why I even try.