Now that I am registered for the Big D Marathon, I've began to readjust the training plan, to be more run intensive for the next 10 and half weeks.  Of my 5-6 training days per week, 3 will absolutely be set for marathon training, with another optional day for run recovery and the rest being set for bike and swim training.  This week marks the last week where I will wing it, before the real training begins next week.

That being said, starting next Monday, my final 10 weeks of marathon "brush up" training (from the White Rock Marathon I ran in December) endurance building is going to be broken up into 4 sections

"Brush up" training - Week 1, 2 and 3 - medium speed work, one 8-9 mile run during the week and weekly long runs of 18, 20 and 18 miles respectively.

"Rest" week - Week 4 - A break between the two 'big' 3 week sections that will make up most of the prep work for Big D.  Will take it pretty light during the week, with added weight training, and just a 12 mile run being the long one.

"Build" Training - Weeks 5, 6 and 7 - This is where I will bring the pain.  Yasso 800's on weeks 5 and 7, with 20, 22 and 20 mile long runs, respectively and a 10-12 mile run during the week for each of these three.

"Taper" - Week 8, 9 and 10 (race week) - I think I am going to do a bit more work two weeks out from this race, to not lose my edge.  That is something I learned from White Rock.

During all weeks, I am hoping to get a 3-4 hours of biking done and 1-2 hours of swimming/weight training.  Also, very extensive work on the core for this marathon.  There will be a heavy dose of crunches, planks, etc to look I should be on the cover of Runner's World.

Hopefully this fight won't go the distance.... and if it does, hopefully it won't be as long as the 100 round boxing matches of the early 1900's.  My registration to the Big D Marathon is now confirmed, and I am going to give it another go on April 5th.  It's going to be a warm one, and I am not sure how I am going to train for that leading up to early April.  I am expecting to be running in some pretty cold weather (like the 23 degree 8 mile run I put in 3 days ago) until mid March, when the taper will start.

In the coming weeks, I will put togther a cleaner map of the miles to the east of White Rock Lake, and try to get down there to run them so there are no surprises on race day.  For my training runs in McKinney, I am going to spend more time on the hills for my longer runs.  This course looks to more undulating at certain points than anything I have done in the past.  I am already not looking forward to the right turn onto Mockingbird at the ~8.5 mile mark.  But I am going to train so that it feels like a speedbump come race day.

Before work this morning, made it down to White Rock with the crew for a two and half hour bike ride.  We ended up covering 48 miles, in our four laps around the lake... with two passes up the 311 hills..... and they didn't kick my butt as much as I figured they would.  I was actually able to keep a pretty good pace on the climbs.  It's not where I was last summer, but for only riding the bike 4 times in the past 4 months (marathon training) I am very pleased at my progress getting back into a rhythm.

Next week...... back into the pool for some swim shenanigans.  That should be interesting.

So..... I was off from work last Wednesday to Sunday, and managed to get in a whopping 3 workouts..... and not with quality I had hoped.  The weather had something to do with that, as it was too cold most days (for me) to go ride.  And I haven't been up to run more than 10 miles since White Rock.  So I punched out a 10 and 8 mile run, and an hour on the bike, doing 3 loops of the Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon bike course.  The hill at Virginia and Ridge crushed me the third time around.  Thankfully, there are months to go before the first triathlon of the season.  I managed to get on the stationary bike at the gym around Christmas, and the 30 minute workout that I could knock out with ease last summer... wore me out.  I am actually surprised at how unprepared my legs are to peddle, coming away from the marathon training.

I registered from two races over the holidays, with some cash I got for Christmas.  And will look to register for some more pretty soon, to try to take advantage of lower costs.  It doesn't look like any sprint distance tri's are on the agenda this year.... not when cost of olympic distance races make it worth the small amount of extra dollars.  Not to mention that I would get waxed by the sprint distance competition at the races I did register for, since the shorter distance races at those events are either regional or state championships.  It will be fun to try to catch of glimpse of those bigger locals guns zip along.  As a preview for where I hope to be in a year or three.