Nails, Plans, and OCD!

Well there it is in all its glory.  The perfect spot for my new medal commemorating my first ever sub-4 hour marathon.  Sure it's still 9 weeks, 44 training runs, and 371.2 miles away, but a guy should be prepared right?  Which brings me up to an interesting topic:  exactly how to get prepared for running a marathon or any race for that matter.

If you've run a competitive race before then I'm sure you've all heard of training plans.  They come in all different shapes in sizes, levels of intensity, and for all time goals from super elite to just finishing them.  The first thing to know about them though if you've never used one is they are mostly FREE!!  Sure you can easily log onto any popular running site, puts your credit card deets in and download a smokin' new plan, but isn't free always better?

For me I've used many plans over the years.  Some I've put together myself while others I've used general templates.  I always thought the main aspect of following any plan is sticking too the distances because I know I won't be breaking any course time records so my goal has always been just to finish with my head held high with a time I wouldn't mind too much dropping in any social situations.  My last marathon time though of 5 hours and 15 minutes  just doesn't permit that but enough about that.

At the end of the day plans are only as good as your ability to follow them and in that race I faltered big time and the results were catastrophic.  This season I refuse to let that happen and have changed up my focus.  For the first time in my racing career I'm not only following the distance recommendations (up to just below 40 miles a week right with 5 runs a week), but the times to complete the mileage as well.  While its definitely ramped up my the intensity of my training and increased my obsession with sticking to the plan, its proved challenging to say the least but this time my goal isn't just to finish, but to take my place with the top 10% of just-for-fun marathon runners.* 

As I said last week though it hasn't been easy, yet this week my legs are doing much better I'd say somewhere around the 75% range assisted with a brand new massive bottle of Aleve.  What I am super impressed with is this training plan.  This is the first time I've ever been surprised by the many details that's been worked in and it seems to be working as long as I can get through my long run tomorrow morning, and recover during my easy week next week.  I currently have one more week of hills ahead of me, 8 on Wednesday to be exact, but after that I make the switch to Tempo's and Yasso's which I'm pumped for. 

For anyone whose never used a plan before the results are startling.  For someone who normally goes through life as laid back as possible, my training plans turn me into an OCD beast.  Every minute of every mile must be accounted for, and substitutions or subtractions just don't fly.  In my 3 months of training so far I think I've missed one run and cried afterwards for a week.  Okay maybe that's a little much, probably more like a few hours...


But as I've said things are going well and I'm still on track for March.  I broke out of the slump I was in last week and are looking forward to owning tomorrow's 16 miler as I did last weeks smaller brother 15.  I've joined the Hollywood Runners Club which I'm excited to get out and run with (though I CANNOT DEVIATE FROM MY PLAN lol!) and I even purchased a new hydration belt and tested it today looking to put its through its paces with my 16 miler tomorrow.  So far so good, so lets keep our fingers crossed for more happy posts to come.

A great day to be a South Florida runner!!

PS.  For anyone interested in learning more about training plans please feel free to "Google" them.  Thanks and best of luck!

*DISCLAIMER:  This number might be totally made up but I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere and if its online it must be true.  A quick article I just found says 25% but I like 10% better so....