So I signed up for my cities marathon about a month ago. After I crossed the half marathon finish line last fall I was pretty sure I would be doing the full 26.2 this year.
I looked up several different training schedules, but I ended up going with the Coach feature on my Nike + Running app on my phone. The program runs for 24 weeks leading me right up to my marathon date. Each week has a specific goal heading like "Warm-up", "Fundamentals" and "Build A Base", which are the first three weeks of the training. Your weeks not only include the milage of your runs, but also cross training and rest days. It gives basic suggestions for cross training days like biking, swimming and elliptical, but I decided to dig a little deeper. My first cross training day workout (that I just finished) will be below. By the time it is all said and done I will have covered nearly 700 miles to my marathon goal. I am more than excited (and a little bit scared) for this journey.
This week has been easy so far for me seeing that I have been used to running several miles most days of the week from maintaining over the colder months.
Monday I did a 4 mile fartlek run. I know weird name, right? Fartleks are basically alternating between a faster and slower pace through the bulk of your run with a warm up and cool down. This is a speed workout to help you build strength and endurance.
Tuesday was an easy and comfortably paced 5K (3.1mi) to keep me fresh for my XT (cross train) day in the gym today.
Wednesday XT Workout:
Planks 3-5 reps holding for 1 minute each
Lower Body Russian Twists 10 to 12 reps
Scorpion 30 seconds each leg
Back Extensions with Stability Ball 10 to 12 reps
Kettlebell Squats with Overhead Press 10 to 12 reps
Overhead Lunge 6 to 8 reps on each leg
Stability Ball Jackknife 10 to 12 reps
Stability Ball Hip Extension 10 to 12 reps
Rotational Shoulder Press 10 to 12 reps
Alternating Dumbbell Row 10 to 12 reps
I repeated the above set 2 times (normally I would do 3 sets, but I was on lunch)
Cool Down Flexibility Moves:
Arm Swings
Leg Swings
Bridges (on stability ball)
Single Leg Stretches
Butterfly
Tomorrow is another 3.1 mile run and Fridays long run is only 5 miles before a rest day Saturday (where I will go for a brisk walk)!
Happy Fitness!!!
