Three years after running the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, I'm ready for round two: I've signed up for October's Marine Corps Marathon in D.C.
As I did the first time around, I'll be following the "Casual" training schedule posted on the New York Marathon's website. It's an 18 week program, and today is Day Zero: Tuesday of Week One.
Since I've been running a fair amount since moving to D.C., my plan is to take advantage of the early weeks' shorter mileages to see if I can push myself to run faster. McMillan offers a handy "equivalent performance" calculator that motivated me pretty well three years ago, and it's one-for-one in 2009 already: if I want to run a full marathon in 3:45, McMillan says I need to be able to run 3 miles at a 7:25 pace; so, this morning I ran 3.1 miles at 7:24.
I'm not sure yet what my goal for this go-round is going to be, but I'm toying with 3 hours 40 minutes, or a marathon of 8:24-minute miles. Could be a tall order, but I think it's doable.
i'm hoping to rebound quickly from my foot injury and i plan to start my training this weekend too--i want to do the free press marathon in detroit!
ReplyDeleteWhen's Free Press? We could keep each other honest if we're on roughtly the same timeline. And, hey, how'd you pick Detroit?
ReplyDelete3:40 is no joke! I've been in DC for MC Marathon weekend and it's a beautiful time of year for a run. The temperature should be back to reasonable temperatures and the trees were a great color. Good luck with your training program.
ReplyDelete3:40 isn't a joke, but my shooting for it might be. :) And I think you're right about the temperature---all indications are that very late October inevitably works out pretty well. Didn't you just run a half-marathon?
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