Hanson(s) is Back! Or Rather Boston Marathon Training Starts Next Week!

Holy shit. Boston training starts next week! ahhh! OK so maybe I am overreacting: My 18 week training plan has a generous 2 weeks added at the beginning to ease myself into it and to give my body more time to adjust to the volume increase, but I am still kind of freaking out. Maybe because my quads are still barely functioning after this weekend's marathon relay, or maybe because my knee still isn't 100% but I am heading into this training cycle with a little anxiety. I think part of it is also that I started a similar training plan last year and was really excited about it, only to have to stop because of Cecil (the cyst). Anxiety aside, I am also really excited!! I have a very ambitious (for me) plan that incorporates more volume than I have achieved during previous attempts. I have adapted the training plan and paces from the Hanson's marathon method. No I did not adopt this approach because of my still burning pre-teen love of the band by the same name, but rather because it looks pretty badass and seems to make total sense. Their philosophy achieves similar volume to more traditional marathon training programs, but instead of a lot of miles at around the same pace with a weekly super long run, this plan relies on (kind of) long runs at marathon pace followed a couple of days later with a somewhat longer run at only a little but slower pace. You will also notice that the "long" run tops out at 16 miles and only occurs every other week. Sounds like my kind of plan! In all seriousness, I feel really good about this approach and am really excited to get going. You can read a little bit more about the Hanson's approach to the tempo run and how it fits into marathon training here.

I love a good excel spreadsheet with the next 18 weeks of my life planned out, but I am also going to be listening to my body and give myself permission to take ax extra rest day if I need it, or to do hills instead of speed / strength work. I am also heading into this plan fully expecting to replace some planned workouts with a bike ride or indoor cycling workout, but I want to be flexible enough to give my body what it needs when it needs it so I have not included that in the plan. The detailed plan also includes yoga several times a week as well as strength training to keep things balanced.

The first few weeks are kinda screwy because of holiday travel, but I think it will be nice to get a couple long runs in on the beach in the Dominican Republic before the grind really starts in January.

So anyways..who wants to join me for some runs in 2015.. it looks like I will need some running buddies!