I’ve been kind of trying to get my summer training plan together, and think that I have at least the first part of it set. I wrote a few days back that I was going to use a combination of Pfitzingers 18/70 plan, along with some custom stuff, but found out that the mile expectations are just more than I can hit during the week. I can get a good 10 (or maybe 12) miles at most in the morning before work, but thats about it.

So i’ve decided then to still break my training into 3 6-week cycles (or as its been stated, mesocycles), the first being about distance (endurance), the second being speed and then the third combining the two along with mental prep. I’ve done it like this in the past and it seemed to have worked out pretty good. The big mistake I was making on my first pass over the training plan was ramping the miles too fast. I have to remember that I have 18 weeks to ramp up the miles, and I only need 3-4 20 milers (although more are better) and to try and achieve it too soon in the training only sets me up for failure, so i need to be careful.

Since I really haven’t done a 20 miler since October of last year, I’m working up from the 16 mile long run i’m at now to 17, then 18 and so on until I feel that its comfortable. I generally take 2 weeks at a distance before stepping it up. I also step up my Sunday run, which I feel is just as important because it forces me to work through the fatigue created by the Saturday run. I also compensated for weeks that i’m on-call (and can’t stray too far from home) and the week we’re on vacation .. I think it’ll work out fine.

I wish I knew a little better about when the lottery for the New York City marathon is, so i can find out if i’m accepted or not. Its either going to be that, Philly or Harrisburg (with my preference being Philly because i’ve done Harrisburg already). They are 8-10 weeks out from the first marathon, so it gives me time to prepare for the second marathon (unlike last year, I was just setting myself up to fail).

So i’m heading off again to fight with my training schedule to get it right … I know that I always seem to change it up anyway during it, but I need to get a firm starting point at least…