Grandma’s Marathon Training

No, my grandma is NOT running a marathon!!

I am!! Saturday, June 19 will mark my first marathon ever–Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN!!

While, running a marathon has always been a goal of mine, the length has always been very intimidating!! Honestly, up until about a month ago, running 26.2 miles seemed SO long!! I’ve done some half-marathons but the thought of turning around and doing that all over again scared me.

This past February I started to increase my mileage–each week adding another mile to my Saturday long run. Fourteen miles turned into 15, then 16 the following week. I started to think that maybe I could run a marathon, but then I realized, whoa, I still have 10 (.2) more miles to go!!

As winter (finally) turned to spring, the long runs kept getting longer and pretty soon I reached 20 miles. For the first time, the length of a marathon seemed possible!!

I often get questions on what plan I’m following and what I’m doing for my training. I have mostly stuck to the Runner’s World Smart Coach plan for this race, which can be found on this webpage. It is an awesome tool to use no matter what your ability.

Here’s a quick review of my training runs so far this week:

Monday: 5 miles (8:30 min./mile pace)
Tuesday: 10 miles (8:00 min./mile pace)
Wednesday: 10 miles (1 mile warm-up, 7 miles tempo run (7:30 min./mile), 2 miles cool-down)

There is so much more I want to share about running, but the rest will need to wait for future posts.

And in honor of the marathon training recap: Happy National Running Day!!

Thank you to those of you who have been reading my blog; all of the comments and e-mails are very encouraging!! Please tell your friends and family about my blog as well. 🙂