Marathon Training: Philadelphia Here I Come!
After weeks and weeks of waffling I recently committed myself to running the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon. This basically means over the next 16 weeks I will be sacrificing my weekends for long runs, turning in early, and logging upwards of 40 miles a week—all to eventually pound the streets of the City of Brotherly Love for 26.2 miles. So why am I subjecting myself to this?
As a Fitbie editor, I’ve had the privilege to hear all sorts of success stories (one of my favorites is this piece about this man who lost nearly 300 pounds), so I decided it was time to really practice what I preach and embark on a worthy fitness quest of my own.
I’ve been running on and off since middle school and have several shorter races under my belt. In 2008 I decided almost on a whim to run a marathon. Unfortunately my first attempt at 26.2 read like a list of “don’ts.” I crammed all of my training into about ten weeks, I ran maybe 18 miles at my longest, didn’t incorporate any speed or strength training, went out for beers two nights before the race, and failed to fuel properly the day before the race. To my credit, I felt pretty good for the first 17 miles, and then I wanted to sink into the nearest hell mouth for the remaining nine. I clocked in at 4:03:03—just shy of my sub-four-hour goal. This time around, I want to train right, see how much I can improve, and hit my time goal.
I’ll be documenting all of my triumphs, tribulations, and training quandaries at the Juice Bar along the way, so check back each week for updates. Also, I encourage you to share your training stories and post your comments and questions below. (please feel free to post your comments and questions below). I’ll also be using the hashtag #Marython to tweet the latest. Stop by next week to find out how I came up with my marathon plan!
—Mary Squillace is an associate editor at Fitbie
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