A glitch in the Matrix? No, just a new training plan

On the heels of my 10K summer adventure, it is time to start up a new marathon training plan. This will be #4 for me. More about the specific race I plan to run will be forthcoming. For now though, I have 12 weeks to train and prepare. As I look back over the results of my training and races this past year, I think one bit of knowledge I gained was that I was pushing myself too hard. For runners, that tends to reveal itself in the form of injuries like the soleus strain I've been recovering from after pushing for too much speed for the 10K.

As I started looking ahead to this new marathon cycle and in light of this knowledge about where I am physically, one of the decisions I made was to try a 10-day schedule instead of the normal 7-day (i.e. weekly) training plan. From my research, 10-day schedules can be effective because there is not such a push to cram so many different types of runs into a single week. The 10-day plans are also better for older runners who can no longer push as hard as younger runners. And yes, I am an older runner along with recovering from years of being overweight and out of shape.

My 10K Summer Adventure

Earlier this summer I undertook a slightly different challenge from the cycle of marathons I've been doing for the past year - a 10K race. It has been close to a year and a half since I last ran a 10K. The Growler Gallop in Greensboro was the chosen event and that was held this past weekend. Read on for my report on how the race went and perhaps more importantly, how the training went and what I learned.