It's Time To Train

     Today marks 16 weeks till the Mercy Health Glass City Marathon.  If you haven't started your marathon training yet, you probably should look to start NOW.  Looking for that right plan to follow, well I can say with 100 percent certainty that there is no one plan that works for everyone.  Whether you are a first time marathoner or this is your 100th time toeing the line, everyone requires a different way of doing it.  Having said that, at the end of the day it is all about getting enough miles in that your body will be prepared for the stress a marathon can put on you.  Assuming everything goes well, I will finally be running the Mercy Health Glass City Marathon this year.  For my training plan, I am literally starting today, which is a couple weeks behind where I wanted to be.  It was my fault as this year I am using a modified Hal Higdon intermediate #2 plan for the mileage, but I am using a customized heart rate training program from Alisha at Elite Physical Therapy to handle my pace zones.   

     First, as I said before, if you are taking on the Mercy Health Glass City Marathon you should be starting now.  This year the Mercy Health Glass City Marathon staff are offering perks for those that choose this race for their first marathon experience.  So if you are thinking of going after 26.2 then this is the place and the year to do it. If you don't have a plan to follow, here is a few of the more popular ones out there.

Hal Higdon - arguably the most popular plan out there.  He offers plans for the complete novice to the most advanced runners out there.  I used a slightly modified version of his intermediate plan when I trained for my first marathon and I am using a modified version of his intermediate #2 plan for this year.

Jeff Galloway Training - To be honest I am not familiar with his plan and never used it myself, but I have heard his name mentioned quite a lot when it came to training plans for beginners so I thought I would list it.

CoolRunnings.com - Just another free online program to look at.

Hansons Marathon Method - This is a strategy that I would only recommend to someone who has at least one if not two marathons under their belt and has been running for some time.  I purchased their book and read it cover to cover and was fascinated by their approach.  They buck the trend of conventional wisdom when it comes to the long run we have heard so much about.  To be honest, I have yet to try this method, but I want to attempt it at some point.  The link is to their free basic plan, but I want to caution you, if you want to do their plan, read the book!

For those of you taking on the Owens Corning GCM Half Marathon or the Medical Mutual 5K, your training will start soon, so get out there now and get a few miles under your belt in preparation for your training.  Most of the training programs I have listed have half marathon plans and a couple have 5k plans, but any of these plans can be modified for your specific situation.