67 Days to Marathon

Our 2009 Pittsburgh visit, on the way to a Steelers game

As of right this moment I have 67 days until the Pittsburgh Marathon.  May is hard to imagine while we're still under snow and have yet another weekend of -20's in the forecast.  This winter has not encouraged me to sign up for any more spring marathons in the future!  It has been NASTY.

Training Plan

I'm following the Run Less Run Faster novice plan mixed with the No Meat Athlete roadmap I used for Kaua'i.  This allows a little bit of breathing space for hellish weather and/or injury.  The three core runs in the week involve a speed training night (currently doing this in the gym), a tempo (which I will transfer to hills for the last 8 weeks) and the weekend long run.  No junk miles.  I love the cross training element and have 6 weeks of Pilates and Zumba starting tomorrow.

I have one more race in the plan on March 22 (Run for L'Arche Half) then the big 30k+ training runs.  Can it please be warmer and less icy by then?  I could not imagine attempting anything above 15k on the treadmill without medication.

My goal for Pittsburgh is to feel strong and run as much as possible.  Kaua'i had 650m of elevation gain so I was frequently power hiking hills during the race.  I enjoyed that part a lot actually!  This will be different with 250m and I want my long runs to reflect that with minimal walk breaks.  I was very cautious of my IT Band issues during the summer but this time I want to train harder.

And, I absolutely want to PR this race.  Don't you love all the marathon craziness?!