Train For A Marathon

by Bill
(Lancaster)

This is a sunset I witnessed while running one evening, Amazing!

Train For A Marathon!!! The first dude, Pheidippides, to ever run a marathon, now known as the Athens Marathon, finished and died, stone dead.

My friend Bill, the Greek-American from PA., wants to cover this sacred ground and live. That is why he has asked me for a marathon training plan. If Bill dies I will have failed.

~Coach Carvey~

Marathon Hurdle #1

Ok so far it has been a little over a month, I have used dailymile.com to log my miles. Look me up, my profile is Bill C., anyway it gives me statistical feedback.

I have logged over 60 miles, spent over 15 hours doing it, powered over 169 TV sets with the energy I used. I also saved 3.15 gallons of gas and burned 61 doughnuts. Pointless but interesting to say the least.

So my marathon training plan was going great! Last weekend I pulled a 5 miler and ran the whole damn way! I took Monday off, just as Coach Carvey commanded, and trained Tuesday, after a 30 minute walk. Saturday 1-23-2010 Mile: 59.92

My legs felt achy? what the heck? so I iced them, and it did not go away, so I implemented a new idea for Wednesdays training. Start out walking for 5 minutes to warm up and stretch. But not having a real place to stretch along my neighborhood streets, I feel like a dork leaning against a stop sign to do my stretching.

So I decide to walk on the dreadmill for 5 minutes, and do some flexibility exercises in the house. I start my run out the door for 10 minutes, walk for 5 and repeat. My workout is 35 minutes and the last 5 are a cool down walk, then I am home, stretching and icing if necessary.

I felt dead after that run, I iced the legs and passed out on the couch for a while, I woke up, sore, cold, achy, with a sore throat. Thursday was worse, so now I have a major head cold and It is Sunday and I haven't run since Wednesday.

Arrrgggg, I am getting antsy and I want to run. But I know better, I know if I run with a cold, I have people who will kick me in the ass and yell at me for not resting.

The funny thing is in college, I had a buddy, who when he got sick would throw on the sweats and do endless laps or hill climbs to "Sweat" the cold out. I don't recall if that worked, but for a moment, I did entertain the thought.

So I think I will sit on my ass on Sunday and watch some really good Football, take Monday off as I would after a big run, then hopefully by Tuesday I will ease back into it with a good brisk walk.

I would love some feedback, encouragement or any tips on my marathon training plan. Thanks!

Back to Bill's first post My Big Fat Greek Marathon

From Marathon Training Plan to Carvey Running Tips Home