15 Weeks, 5 Days

Check it. I have "officially" started training for my next marathon, which is the White Rock Marathon in December. It isn't like I am starting over though. With the exception of a about three weeks, which I spent recuperating, I have been running pretty steadily since my last marathon in April. So, I have got a good base to build on.

Rather than using one of Hal Higdon's training programs again, which are very good by the way, I have decided to follow this 16 week program that was printed in the August 2006 edition of Runner's World magazine. The title of this training program is "Marathon Training Plan for Slackers". Let me tell you, there is nothing "slacker" about this program! It has you running 6 days per week. In addition to the short and medium distance runs during the week and the long distance runs on the weekend, it has you doing fartleks, strides, temp runs, and intervals. It also throws in two 20-milers - one at week 11 and one at week 13.

In case you are wondering, much like I did when I fisrt saw the word, a fartlek is when you alternate a period of fast running with the same time period of easy jogging. So, if you do a 1-2-3-2-1 fartlek, you would run fast for 1 minute and then jog for 1 minute. Then you would run fast for 2 minutes and then jog for two minutes. You get the drift.

This training, with its variations in distance and speed across the 16 weeks of the program, is definitely going to push me. I am certainly up for the challenge though. Only 15 weeks and 5 days to go.

Stay with me...