Marathon Training Plan

I have decided to enter the Colorado Marathon, May 4, 2007 in Ft Collins, CO. I last ran this race in 2003 with a time of 3:29. Runners are bused 26.2 miles up Poudre Canyon to the start. The course runs alongside the Poudre River and is breathtakingly beautiful. I completed 5 weeks of 45 mi/wk on Sun, Mar 9. During this 5 weeks I increased my Long run to 16 mi by adding 2 miles every other week. I also ran five of 6 hill repeats to strengthen my glutes. I am ready for anaerobic runs of 18-20 miles. I am 60 years old and need extra time to recover. To enhance recovery and lower the risk of injury I am going to change to three runs per week. These will be Speed, 6x800 or 5K race, Tempo, 4-5 mi at my anaerobic threshold or slightly higher, and alternating anaerobic long runs of 18-20 mi or 7-8 miles at marathon pace.

January 2008 Running

My plan for this month is to increase my weekly total to 45 miles in 10% steps. I will then run 45 mi/wk for 12 weeks in preparation for the Colorado marathon in Ft Collins on May 4. This is pretty ambitious for a guy that has only run 26 mi in the last week of 2007.

Running 2007

It was a good year for my running. I ran a total of 1683.5 miles. I figured out why I kept getting hurt with shoes that did not have the necessary stability for me. I could run 58 mi/wk by September. I ran 3 mi of speed work at Potts Field about once a week starting in June. I ran the USATF cross country championship in Boulder. I was the 6th fastest 59 year old male in the Bolder Boulder. I ran a 21:28 in the Kickoff Classic 5K for 1st place in my age group. I learned to only increase my mileage by 10% per week.

December Running

I finally realized the reason I got hurt in the Boulder half marathon was because my Nike Structure Triax were worn out. I switched totally to my Nike Equalon but they were worn out and I continued to aggravate both Achilles and ACL's. The last week in November I ran exclusely in my Brooks Axiom. They are not as stable as the Nike's but only have 30-50 miles on them and will do for short distances that I'm going to run in December.

November Runs

My goal in November is to recover from my injured Achilles and run a Thanksgiving 5K. My plan is to run the same miles for two days in a row and then increase the distance by .5 mile. I'll add distance until 4.5 miles then start hard/easy/long.

October Runs

Achilles Injured

I stepped in a hole and strained my right Achilles at the finish of the Boulder half marathon. By one week later it hurt so bad I could not run. I'm not going to run the Denver marathon this Sunday, Oct 14. I'll walk the dog and ice twice a day until my calf loosens up.