14 Weeks

As I said, I'm officially signed up for the Rotterdam Marathon, on April 10th.

To begin with - everything feels pretty good right now, so I'm ready to start bumping up. This week will be >50, since I squeezed in 2x 15mi runs. Calf feels better... Still not 100%, but probably better that at any point in the last 12 months.

I've been thinking about how to train for this thing. I'm only 14 weeks out, so it'll have to be a quick roll back up. One side of me is concerned that I might be under trained, the other side is concerned that too quick of a roll up could have me over train and blow it like I did with NYC.

Since I crammed for London, I looked back to last year's post-SFX training as a comparison. Here's the basics:

- 10/11/09 - 2:39 Chicago Marathon
- SFX 2 weeks later on 10/28/09, didn't run a single step until 1/8/10. Total down time exactly 10 weeks.
- I essentially had 15 weeks of "running" to prepare for London.... 1/2 of which was just literally "shedding weight" running.
- I could probably only call 7 weeks of real training, if that:

Week - Mileage
1 - 21 (began on Sunday, 1/10/10)
2 - 31
3 - 35

4 - 35
5 - 42
6 - 21
7 - 42
8 - 66
9 - 60
10 - 55
11 - 82
12 - 67
13 - 82
14 - 60
15 - 26
16 - 26 (2:39 on 4/25)

The end result was just seconds shy of a PR, and I felt much stronger than in Chicago-09. However, my under training showed up in the last few miles. So, it was a far more aggressive race especially when I consider the lack of mileage that went into it, and my body still allowed me to run well. Adding more up: I only had 2 weeks above 80, and 3x 7-day streaks above 80. I did have 4x 20+ mile runs. A huge difference between London and NYC.

I can comfortably say that if I'm not totally out of shape right now (which I'm not), then I should be able jack my miles beyond London's and run a similar-or-better race. There shouldn't be any concern for getting into shape for Rotterdam... My concern should be over training again.

So in order to not over train, I'll cap on my weekly mileage at about 90 miles AND to spend at least 2 days a week cross training. I'll base in the 55-70 range, then pop it for 4 weeks at 80+. No more than 4-5x 20+ runs. Everything gets topped off with the Cary 1/2 Marathon on 3/20, 3 weeks before Rotterdam.

A lot fewer miles than NYC, but more than London. And to boot: the cross will help to build my core back into a rock, like it was couple years ago. It's not gonna be fun with this winter weather (it's in the 'teens today), but it'll leave plenty left in the tank for this marathon.

If I'm gonna cherry picking this race and go all the way to Europe, then I'm gonna have to change up my training and make sure I do it the right way.

By the end of next week, I should be able to start bringing back the quality.