Week One (Taking it slow)

For the past 3 training cycles I have found myself getting in peak shape weeks before my goal race. During my Chicago Marathon build up this turned out to be a fatal flaw, and weeks after I hit my peak I wound up breaking down, getting injured and racing from a place of weakness instead of from a place of readiness. These next 18 weeks will be crucial in my quest to figure out how my body works, and exactly how I should train myself for goal races. First off, I know I training too hard for too long. An 18 week cycle is too long of a time to be pushing yourself through 3 key workouts a week building mileage and speed without a break. I believe that I can sharpen myself into a racing machine in only 10 weeks from a good base. My marathon base from the Fall has been broken down by my weeks of time off and physical therapy. I have gained a couple pounds and am aerobically out of shape. My plan of action is to take these next 4-6 weeks to just get back into the groove of training. Instead of pushing myself from week 18 down to week 1 my plan is to simulate my training week for the next 4-6 weeks in order to ease my body back into training. My weekly long run will be long, but easy. My weekly mile repeats will be run at between 10k and Half marathon race pace. My easy recovery runs will be short and sweet. It is my hope that at about 12 weeks out from my goal race I can start turning up the volume and not burn myself out by my goal race. It is difficult to not go all out when training, but I have concluded that it is even more difficult to be injured and try to train while hobbling around for many week.