The Marathon Plan

I immediately felt the difference in my legs and energy levels as I dropped to 55 miles this week from 100 miles the week before. I am feeling strong and am getting ready to roll. I have one more week until the marathon. Not having to go to work is a plus right now.

The plan for this marathon is to go out strong and finish strong, as I always run well that way(and why I am suited well for this type of race). I want to go out in 1:16:00-1:17:00 for the first half(5:50 per mile), and maintain 1:18:00-1:19:00 for the second half(6:00 per mile). If I do that I will run a 2:35:00. Of course there are some hills in the first half, so maybe a 1:17 1st half, 1:18 2nd half is more likely. I need to run even, that is when I run well. I do not want to run slower than 2-3 minutes for the 2nd half. Who knows, maybe I'll run faster and pop a 2:32:00. As far as placing, my goal is to finish in the top 25. I will not get caught up going out too fast however, I am going to run my race and focus on my splits. As I revived my running again a few years ago, I have set PRs in the 8K and 10K, but I have my sights set on the goal that got me started again: to better 2:38:48. This is my toughest PR to beat, from 2005. I believe I am in the shape now to do it, and on a slightly harder course. This is the barrier that needs to be broken, after 2.5 hard working years to get back in shape, and to begin looking into the future of possibility. Bettering this time will mean a lot to me, because I will finally begin looking ahead at cracking 2:30:00 soon.