Marathon Training Update

The blog has been pretty quiet lately, but I promise we'll try to update a little more frequently. I thought this would be as good a time as any to post a little update on my marathon #2 training. I mentioned before that I'm using a different training program this time around. Last year I used Hal Higdon's Novice plan. This year I'm using a hybrid of his two Intermediate plans. There's a good bit more mileage in this plan, it schedules five runs per week versus four, and the distance of the long runs ramps up much quicker. Here's a little comparison of my training to date this year versus last year (through October 16):

2008 Total Miles Run: 102
2009 Total Miles Run: 120

2008 Longest Run to Date: 10 miles
2009 Longest Run to Date: 14 miles

2008 Most Miles in a Week to Date: 19 miles
2009 Most Miles in a Week to Date: 32 miles

2008 Average Run Length: 5.2 miles
2009 Average Run Length: 5.8 miles

I'll try to update the comparisons every few weeks. As an overall comparison, in my training last year I ran a total of 444 miles before the marathon. This year I should hit 444 miles in week 14 and should hit about 575 miles overall. Most marathon training plans work with the philosophy that improved performance comes primarily in increased training volume. My planned volume isn't even close to serious marathoners, but we'll see if it helps me finish faster than last year!