flying pig practice

wahoo! just completed my marathon #2 training schedule. 930 training miles scheduled.

scheduled, of course, is the keyword here. apparently the avg marathoner runs 700miles training for their race. for chicago, i ran just over 800 training miles. if i do the same for flying pig, i'll be quite happy. this allows for sickness or injury or vacation or just plain "i really don't want to run"ness to come up from time to time, but it also sets me up for success. i ran chicago with a huge smile on my face all because of my training miles.

training, of course, is the hardest part of running a marathon. the actual marathon day is a breeze in comparison. even if you have an awful day. training involves sweat (more sweat than you've ever imagined), blood (yes), tears (once or twice), pain upon pain, exhaustion, heat, cold, rain, sleet, wind, cramps (lots of those), tummy issues, blisters, sore muscles, happy moments, "i'm going to kill someone" moments, good days, bad days, fast days, slow days, and everything in between. training happens when you'd rather be snuggled up under your covers in bed. it happens while you fantasize about the ice cream sundae you're going to have when you get back (although usually by the time i get back all i want is a warm shower and a g2). it's the reason you watch what you eat and drink, especially friday and saturday. it's what you look forward to. it's what you dread. it's the reason you can polish off a full pizza by yourself and still be a bit hungry for a bite or seven of what's for dessert. it's what you log online as a reminder to yourself (and the rest of the world) of what you can accomplish.

so, 930 miles. 28 weeks. 123 runs. avg 7.5miles/run. avg 33miles/week. scheduled, that is.

to see the plan, go here. note: the blue means run with hills (3-6% incline on treadmill) since there are hills in flying pig. green is taper time!