Base building on track

My mileage base building is on track. This past week went well. I achieved my 38-mile target and was able to see most of Central London while doing it.

I got lost in and around the beautiful Regent's Park in London while putting in 8.5 miles on Wed morning. London has beautiful parks and running through them is the one thing to do that doesn't cost any money!

Yesterday's morning's 12-miler was a bit rough. Truth is I have only myself to blame. I was invited over to the neighbor's Friday night and I had a couple beers too many. I think I was dehydrated and my HR was a little higher than norm. I felt like garbage - but I got the mileage in at 7:50 avg pace. Lesson learned (again).

Time to talk 2:59 marathon strategy...

Here is a sneak peak of the first several weeks of my training plan as it stands now. There's no detail on workouts, but you can get a feel for the mileage level.

My plan is an adaptation of the mid-point mileage of Pfitzinger's 55mpw and 7o+mpw, with my own adjustments to accommodate my schedules.

Basically, I'll be running many weeks consistently in the 50-63 mpw range. I will try to get to a single 70-mile week later in the summer - the week of 8/13 - just to say I did one. The other difference is that I will have five 20+ mile runs. Overall, I will be running substantially higher mileage than I did last year when I ran 3:10. I am hopeful this jump will get me to 2:59.

My only concern is the rate of mileage climb. I've never moved up from 30's to 40's so rapidly this early on.

This coming week is the last week of pre-training. I consider "official" training to start 18 weeks out based on Pfitz's plan. I like the 18-week plans. It seems like the right amount of time to truly focus on training.

This week, as you can see from the plan, I will try for about 42 miles, which will include a 10k race on Saturday.

Thanks for all the comments. I have to apologize that I've not been able to comment as much as I would like recently, but the schedule has lightened up and I'll be watching you.

Upcoming Events:

Next Saturday - I will be running the Wheaton 10k. Goal time? I don't know, maybe 41'ish?
June 8-9 - I will be participating in the Great Midwest Relay with Running Jayhawk and a bunch of other running bloggers from Chicago area. We'll be driving a van and running in shifts for 36 hours - running from Madison, WI to Chicago. This ought to be an adventure!
June 24 - I will make my 2nd appearance at the Downer's Grove 10-mile race.