marathon training plan + first playlist
So as nervous as it makes me to blog the (my) process of training for a marathon, let’s go!
I think when most people think of marathon training they think of strict regimes - a special diet, a grueling schedule, stopwatches, matching socks, foam rollers, yoga class - and yes, it is all those things, as well as a weird force that takes even a spontaneous kind of life like mine and makes it into all those things.
But the reason I’m nervous to blog about training for a marathon, is the other side of it. Because I feel like all that strict planning is designed to counteract the true nature of the beast-contingency. All the careful routines get you to the very edge of what you can control, then you are at the mercy of your body to perform throughout training and in the race. There are so many things that could possibly derail you. I don’t take for granted for a second that everything will go cool!
Anyway, I’m also super excited to start training again, because it’s always been a really happy time for me. For better or worse, instead of completely focusing on running during a training cycle, I like to just pile on training to whatever else I want to do. So there are almost year-long stretches of my life where I did everything - surfing, brunches, charity galas, weddings, work, (travel!!) - with a latent long run adrenaline high. And um, also while still wearing running shorts. It makes everything is more fun! I’m excited for that!
But how to start…
I kind of believe if you want to do anything, sometimes you just have to take the most basic good advice and put it into practice. Literally, like wikiHow advice works, you just have to do it. And I’ve done this before!
So my training plan is a mileage schedule I chose in 5 minutes off Hal Higdon . com, printed off, and stuck into my calendar. My idea was to start as soon as possible, so even though it’s a 16-week plan, I’m stretching it out 6 more weeks so I can start now. Marathon training plans generally assume you are already running regularly.
My first run was Tuesday (3 miles), then Wednesday (5 miles). I owe myself 3 more miles today (update: completed!) and a good stretch. The weekend calls for some long runs, which, I haven’t decided if I will skip in the warm up phase. 8-10 miles seems like a big bite right now, we will see.
But for now, I have noticed how even just scheduling daily runs has reorganized my time. I usually have a fluid sense of time in the mornings when it’s just about showering, coffee, and dashing to the train- if I press the snooze button now, I can make up for it somehow. But when I know how many miles I need to eek out at dawn, time becomes iron law. I know I’m not going to do 5 miles at a 6-minute mile pace- so I need to wake up nowww! There are no corners to be cut. I can’t go out in this weather without running tights, so I need to do my laundry- today! And I NEED fresh music sooo I can’t waste time downloading a good song I hear and adding it to the playlist, titles, included below (with the most running-est parts of the songs quoted)
high and low - empire of the sun
“now we are running in a pack to the place you don’t know”
love it if we made it - the 1975
“rest in peace lil peep, the poetry is in the streets”
she moves in her own way - the kooks
“uh, oh, I love her because she moves in her way”
human - the killers
“close your eyes, clear your heart, cut the cord”
lean on - major lazer
“stand up like a solider baby, yeah, I know you’re built like that”
melt my heart to stone - adele
“right under my feet is air made of bricks that pulls me down and turns me weak”
nothing that has happened so far has been anything we can control - tame impala
“it sucks to keep on running”
&run- sir sly
“well I don’t know what I don’t know so I’ll kick off my shoes and run”
prom dress - mxmtoon
“all I wanna do is run”
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