Marathon training

For my first two marathons I used Hal Higdon training schedules, http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00index.htm first the Intermediate I and then then I stepped up to the Intermediate II. I could not have run a marathon without these schedules building me up for the big race.

The one draw back to the schedules is they did not prescribe the pace to run. Even a few that did give me a pace to train at, never told me what pace to attempt on race day. (The result was a colossal meltdown on the second half of my first marathon. At the finish line my wife was certain I was about to die....I knew there was no way I was going to get off that easy!)

Experience gained that day made my second marathon a much better experience. However, I was still guessing about training paces and race pace.

But this year I discovered McMillan pace charts. http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/Running%20University/Article%201/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm They are fantastic! Punch in a recent race result and the site will give you a goal pace for every distance from 100 meters to marathon, including long runs, tempo runs and recovery runs.

A few weeks into my training and I have never felt so confident and prepared. If only I did not continue to read about how "challenging" the Mississippi Blues Marathon course is, I would almost guarantee a sub 4:00 result!

Oh well, at least the training will go well. After all that is more than half the fun.