14 miles already!!??

My husband and I were sipping coffee at Barnes & Noble Saturday and stumbled upon the training plan we’ve decided to use for the Baltimore Marathon in October. It starts at week 16 before the day off the marathon, perfect timing and we were in need of a guide. It’s the Rookie plan in Runner’s World. We printed out the plan and have it on our refrigerator. I decided to have a look at it this morning to see what today’s advised distance was. 3-4 easy miles. Cool. Then I look across the whole week for any long runs that i should prepare myself for. I find a slot that says “14-19 miles” on it. Wait. 14-19!!?? Are you KIDDING ME!?  I look down across the rest of the sheet and wonder who in the world came up with this bogus plan, it has mileage on certain days that I would never expect more than a month away from the marathon.

Oh. Wait. That’s the “Total Miles” slot. Whew. Those are the miles to be shooting for for the entire week.

Yeah, this rookie plan is definitely appropriate for me. I’m such a novice I don’t even know how to read the chart.

Huh. I think this might work.

So. I’ve been cutting back the amount of days a week I force myself to run and I think this might be what was missing in my life. I don’t know where I got this conception exactly, but I’ve always felt that runners strive to run daily and missing days is a big deal. I like the alternative of having more quality runs on less days during the week. Quality, not quantity. Of course quality means quantity in mileage, but I think i can handle that. The main relief is on my brain – not having to gear up so often to go out for a run.

Poor husband is having a hard time getting his mileage in lately, he’s been working extra hours painting my parent’s new house for the past couple of weeks. The end of that is in sight though and hopefully he can really get in gear after that. Still need to look for a good marathon training plan…

What is Consistency Worth?

Just curious… now that i’m committed, registered, and bound to a full marathon in a few months, i’ve been struggling to run six out of seven days a week – my normal goal. It seems there’s always that one day that I can’t find the time to get in a run. So i’m great on the five out of seven days, but that sixth day has been a problem.

If I am able to still maintain the mileage I want to accomplish during the course of each week leading up to the marathon, how important is it that I run everyday or at least six out of seven days? Is running more miles each day for five days out of the week just as effective as spreading out the miles over six days?

I think I even do better on my long runs mentally if I’ve had a little break from watching the pavement go by.

Suggestions?