the tale of two great runs

Since I have officially decided to run the Fargo Marathon in May, I have been doing a lot of searching/researching online for the perfect training schedule.  I knew right away that this schedule has to be different from my Route 66 plan, which was overloaded with runs. Well duh Kier, you are training for a marathon - you should be doing a lot of running!  Yes, but I seriously neglected strength training which is also important when training for a marathon, and it is quite possible that I over trained and am looking at cutting out at least one run per week during Fargo training (which would take my from 6 runs to 5 runs each week).

While doing some research, I decided to reach out to my old boss from my college work-study job, who has run a handful of marathons. Most recently she ran the Twin Cities Marathon and finished with an impressive time of 3:44:03.  I asked her to share her training plan with me and luckily for me, she did.

When looking over her training plan (which I most likely will be stealing - thanks Angie!) I figured out something about my running.  I have one pace and one pace only.  Whether I am running a tempo, a moderate distance run or a long run, my pace during Route 66 training ranged from about 7:40ish - 8:40ish, but normally clocked in right around 8:15 pace. I never really worried about it since I was pretty much always clocking in well below "race pace" which was 8:24.

So for Fargo Marathon training, I will be pushing myself much harder during my weekday runs (tempos, mid distance and speed work).  My goal for all runs under 6-8 miles will be to clock in under 8 minute pace for sure, and hopefully right around 7:30ish.

I decided to test the waters the other day to see what pace I was capable of right now.  Considering the two runs below were in the snow on pretty crappy roads, I am quite impressed and am way excited to get this training underway!

Mile                  Run 1                   Run 2
1                         7:35                      7:50
2                         7:49                      7:37
3                         7:55                      7:49
4                         8:01                      7:53
5                         8:04                      8:16
Icing (.07)          7:43                      8:00
Total Distance   5.07 miles             5.07 miles
Average Pace    7:53                      7:53

During Run 1, I just pushed as hard as I could the entire run.  For Run 2, I decided to treat mile one as a warm-up and then tried to run a faster pace for miles 2-4, and cool-down for mile 5.

I also credit these fast miles to some new music on my iPod.  A huge thanks for Bree for posting the link to a few download of the GirlTalk album!

Fargo or Bust....(right after Paris and Spain of course!)