Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I am most of the way through this week's training, leaving a little less than 10 weeks until race day. I'm starting to get nervous. Or maybe concerned is a better word. I'm still looking for a good experience on a 18 or longer mile run. And I'm not confident I can actually stay on my feet for 26.2 miles. I suppose that is one of differences between my marathon training and my half marathon training. For the half marathon, I actually had run 13 miles twice before the race. There was never any question in my mind that I could finish, I just wasn't sure what kind of pace I would be able to run.

I'm not in a total panic however, but my heart rate kicks up a notch when I think of race day. At this point is it probably a healthy concern. I think that's why it is more important than ever that the custom training plan I ordered from Greg McMillan showed up at the beginning of this week. Making this week's training the final transition from a FIRST program based training plan, to a training plan based on the concepts described in McMillan's Six Step Training System.

Greg provides complete information on his website about his approach to training, enough so that you could easily develop your own plan without a need to pay for one. Which begs the question, why did I purchase a training plan? I think it comes down to confidence in the plan. I have a goal that is probably not typical. We all have read that "you run your first marathon to finish" and then you can run a second marathon for time. Running your first marathon for time is likely to lead to a DNF. I don't know if it is age, or feeling the need to take advantage of the slow time in my work, but I feel pressure to run my Boston qualifying time on my first marathon. Even knowing that it is a bad idea.

So although I could have put together my own training plan, I wanted the plan to be developed with the judgment that comes from experience. Believing that would give me the best change to achieve my goal.

Being in the middle of the first week it is too early to reach any conclusions, but I already have a more positive outlook. Yesterday's workout was a stamina workout, similar to Key Workout #2, but with a slightly more focused purpose. McMillan identifies 12 key workouts in his approach. This week's stamina workout was a cruise interval workout. 6 to 8 1000 meter repeats run between 12K and 8K pace. With the last few faster than the first. And for good measure, 3 by 200 meter repeats thrown in at the end.

I decided to run 7 by 1000 meters. I believe you always have to make that decision before you start or during the workout your head ends up trying to convince you why it makes sense to run the fewest number. I'd rather focus on the workout than on arguing with myself. The pace here is critical - both to achieving the goal of the workout and to me feeling successful in finishing. The intervals were tough, but as Greg explained in the notes to my training plan, the idea is to get tired from the duration of the workout, not the speed. When it was all said and done, I had completed 7 1000 meter intervals, each one faster than the last, with 3 200 meter sprints at the end. The total workout (with warmup, cool down and rest intervals) was 10.5 miles.

I left the track feeling like a winner - I had done the work as prescribed and when I arrived back at home and realized the workout was 10.5 miles, I was excited about that too. I felt like I was increasing my ability to be on my feet for longer periods of time, and doing so at a pace that made it challenging. Unlike the completely spent feeling I often had after FIRST workouts, I felt stronger. I was definitely tired, but I felt like I had completed a workout that was building me up, rather than tearing me down.

I'd be the first to admit that the difference described above is probably 100% mental. And that's okay. I resonate with McMillan's approach. McMillan's approach is consistent with how I have understood training principles and to some extent, how I have approached training in the past. But it is much more rigorous and adds elements I didn't have in my training before. I see it as a professional overhaul of my training approach. As a result, completing the workouts builds my confidence. And the workouts are run at paces that challenge me, but that I can achieve. All in all, I'm a happier runner.

But then I'm still in the first week of my McMillan-based training program. And Napa is 9 weeks and 2 days away.