In sixteen weeks (from yesterday), I’ll be running my sixth marathon! I’m pretty excited about it, I’ll be running the New Jersey Marathon so I’ll be right at home! Training starts today!
My plan for the NJ Marathon is a very serious Boston qualifying attempt. My required BQ time is 3:35, but I’m going to shoot for 3:30 to give myself a little breathing room. That comes out to an 8:01 min/mile pace which is 34 seconds/mile faster than I ran in Richmond. Eek!
This time around, I’m doing an advanced plan from RunYourBQ. I’ve used their plans for my last few marathons and they’ve worked out pretty well. I like them because they include strength and flexibility exercises in addition to running. This plan is upping the ante a bit over the plans I’ve done in the past. The plan tops out at 60 miles/week for the two peak weeks and includes two 19-milers, one 20-miler, and two 21-milers. Intense!
To be honest, I’m not sure my body is 100% ready for training again. My hips still don’t feel great, but I think they’re on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, because of the hips, I also haven’t been running as many miles as I should be to be preparing for training. I missed my 10-miler this weekend because of snowboarding and the weather. Dammit!
Speaking of weather, this will be my first spring marathon. I’ve never trained for one before. While I’ve done January marathons before and spring half marathons, this will be way more miles to deal with while there’s snow and ice on the ground. Plus, this winter seems like it’s going to be colder than normal so that’s something to consider. Unfortunately, unlike winter running in the past, I may not be able to fallback to the treadmill as much this time around. We don’t own our own treadmill and I’ve yet to deal with this whole gyming while trans thing. It’s not really something I’ve worried much about since I typically hate the treadmill and never go to the gym anyway. I have no problem with running in the cold to a certain degree (pun possibly intended) and I’m probably okay with running in temperatures colder than most people, but even this girl has her limits.
On top of that stuff, I’ll also be taking a trip to Brussels early in training which sort of throws things off a bit. I’m planning on running while there and I don’t see any reason to see why I can’t get in at least most of my scheduled miles, but I always say that when I go on vacation and it never works out. Though, I’ve already moved runs around to make room for travel and such so I can still get all the runs in. We’ll see what happens, I guess!
After writing all of that, it certainly feels like there’s a lot working against me for this race, but I’m still hopeful that I can do it. Either way, I’m excited to have another race on the horizon again!