T-Minus 107 Days and Counting. . .

Tuesday, we kicked off our official 16-week training program. We’re doing the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) Marathon Training Program, which involves three days of running, two days of cross training and two days of rest. It’s a fantastic program that we first used back in 2007 and it’s left us much fresher between runs and less prone to burnout.

We do fast intervals on Tuesdays, tempo runs of up to 10 miles on Thursdays at faster than race pace and then long runs on Saturdays. We supplement that with cross training two other days. For us, that means biking, weight training and swimming.

Our first run was 8 x 400 meter intervals on Tuesday. In the grip of our first heat wave of the year, with temps in the upper 80s with massive humidity, it was tough.

Wednesday we did an easy warm up on the track at the Y followed by upper and lower body weights. Nothing too exciting and felt a little sluggish as well.