Without realizing it, I have been sinking little by little into the over-training mistake. Thinking that if I don’t feel exquisitely exhausted after each work out, then I’m wasting my time, and getting farther from doing a marathon performance that my ego would get satisfied with, in this oh so little time I have left of youth. Pfftf.

This has served me well to improve my 10Ks, but the half marathon is far worse than what it should be. A lot of cross-training has help avoiding injuries, but I have this recurring little ache deep inside my left left bone. Can’t even tell if it’s above or below the knee, but it’s around that area. Another thing is the runner’s knee symptoms I was having, but I think I’ve been able to manage that through quad strengthening exercises after every weekday workout.

Many times I’ve tried to follow some training programs, but without a coach it’s hard to keep up with all the intricacies of intervals, repetitions, tempos, threshold training, etc. So after a lot of search around I think I found a great plan, not so complex but not minimalistic either, in the “Complete Book of Running” , from Rodale, the same company that produces the Runner’s World mag.  I’m picking up their “intermediate” program, Which starts at 26 miles per week and peaks at 51. Lucky me, the program is 18 weeks long, which is about the time I have left before the marathon I was planning on assisting. You can see the plan here.  I calculated the paces based on goal of a 4 hour marathon, which is pretty conservative, so I might twist it up a notch if things go well.