Dispatches from the middle

The other day, J and I decided not to try a 50 Miler this year. The Iron Legs 50 Miler has been on my list for a while now, and I’d tentatively slated it for 2015. But, it is not to be. Part of me wishes I were more devoted to questing after such distances, but at the moment, I’m just not. By the end our long and excellent (as in fun and rewarding) season last year, over the course of which it was a constant challenge to find enough time to get the requisite mileage in, running felt like a bit of a chore. I really don’t want that to happen again, so we thought a year of marathons (hopefully fast marathons!) might be just the ticket. Pounding the pavement can be good for the soul too! With that in mind, here be the schedule for 2015…

• May 3 – Vancouver Marathon
• May 30 – Blackfoot Ultra (50km) – we’re currently on the wait list because I waited (le sigh) too long to register, but I’m hopeful it’ll all work out!!
• July 11 – Sinister 7 Relay
• August 23 – Edmonton Marathon
• October 18 – Toronto Waterfront Marathon

Looking forward training-wise then, there are 10 usable weekends until the Vancouver Marathon. This is what I propose to do with them in terms of long runs:

• Week 1 – 15 km
• Week 2 – 17 km
• Week 3 – 22 km
• Week 4 – 25 km
• Week 5 – 20 km
• Week 6 – 25 km
• Week 7 – 30 km
• Week 8 – 32 km
• Week 9 – 35 km
• Week 10 – 15 km
• MARATHON WEEKEND!!

These longer runs will be paired with one hill workout (keeping Blackfoot and Sinister 7 in mind) and one speed workout each week. An easy 10 miler somewhere each week certainly wouldn’t hurt anything either, in addition to whatever semi-athletic pfaffing around fits in between. More on my new cross-training strategy next post!!