marathon training begins

with a change of focus from training for and running ultra marathons later in the year i have decided that i want to achieve my sub 3 hour marathon goal. i haven't trained for and had a successful marathon experience and i am hoping this time around things will be different.

i trained for and successfully completed my first marathon in 2004 but it was far from being the day that i had planned for so long. as a platform for taking me from an overweight, smoking, heavily drinking and extremely unfit male in his early 30's to what i am today (more on that later) it was an overwhelming success.

my first marathon and actually my first ever running race i trained for about 9 months with no real idea about what i was doing. i bought a few running mags and checked out hal higdon's marathon training plans and based my training preparation around those. i didn't own a gps watch, heart rate monitor or other sport-related gadgetry other than the simple stopwatch. my weekly miles maxed out at about 40-50k in 3-4 runs and i thought that was all it would take to run the marathon. i overestimated everything. my pace, the distance, my fitness..... and when i went into the race i thought running sub 3:30 on my first attempt was just a formality. i made every mistake i could think of which started out with almost no running for the three weeks leading up to the event as my motivation waned but the classic newby mistake of going out too fast was what really brought me undone. i went through the half in under 1:45 thinking 3:30 would be mine but within a kilometre i developed hotspots under my feet which by the 30km mark were full blown blisters. the last 12km was a very humbling experience in which the only thing that kept me going was seeing the look of pride from my wife who was there at the finish waiting for me with my daughters.

well i have come a long way since then. i have been devoted to training and gaining knowledge about running etc but i have yet to run the marathon race i am sure i have within me.

i have completed a few ultra events and i am at the point were my weekly long run can has on many occasions surpassed the marathon distance. racing the distance is a whole different story though and is one that i am preparing to embark on until such time as i am satisfied that i have fulfilled my ambitious journey.

i have had success with my training taking my ideas from jack daniels, arthur lydiard, canova, tinman, pfitzinger and many others and i will take what i have learnt works for me and try and come up with a plan that will guide me on this journey.