Marathon Training: Week 1 - The First Step Towards the Championships

As summer comes to an end, I find myself wondering where the heck did my training lead me...?  I had a great plan to build up my mileage and utilize the fact that I didn't have to be anywhere at 8:00am.  I plotted out all the "workouts" that I thought I was going to do, and trickled a few races here and there.  And those races are what got the best of me this past summer.  I toed the line of a local 5k on the Forth of July and little did I know I would be hobbling back to the starting line after the first mile with a brand new DNF to add to my running resume.  My calf was being very unpatriotic and decided to quite on me after the first time of a "fun" 5k.  I thought, this was the most Un-American thing you could do on the 4th of July - QUIT? Seriously?!  Well, it was for the better, and I rested up and have been running fine since a mere 2 weeks off in July.  I really got to thinking about how in my entire college career I never once quit in a race.  Then out of all the post-college races I had, I never quit either.  Even after all those crapy felling marathon's, where I was completely off my mark I never decided.... "Hey, I'm just going to step off the course and rally up for another one".  I still think about how I should've quit at Chicago way back when, instead of posting another disappointing time and missing the Olympic Trials Standard.  But, where would that have gotten me?  I always believe that if you're healthy, then finish the damn race.  And I won't even talk about Boston...

So, after healing up and building my mileage to a respectable number, I've decided to get the blog back in action and start posting about the journey to the USA Marathon Championships this December.  The California International Marathon will host the championships, and we have a huge crew of Dukes Track Club runners heading out west to chase some impressive times.  One time that should stick out is the new 2020 USA Olympic Trials Standard.  The men's "B" Standard is 2:19:00 and the "A" Standard is 2:15:00.  Also, if you are top 6 at the Championships, that qualifies as an "A" Standard, so it's pretty neat.  All I know is that there will be another gaggle of dudes going for that standard.  The weather should be good, and the company will be championship class.  As for me, I have a feeling this will be a subtle introduction back to the roads and a journey of chasing that standard

Week of training:

Mon- 2.5 miles
Tue - 7 miles
Wed - 2.5 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo (5:42, 5:37, 5:36, 5:31) 4 min rest, 8x400m w/90sec rest (75, 74, 71, 72, 72, 75, 72, 72) 2 mile cool down
Thur - 11 miles
Fri - 11 miles
Sat - 9.5 miles
Sun - 18 miles

Total: 70 miles