Its official, in less than 4 months, I’ll be running my second marathon. I’ve registered for the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA marathon which will be held in DC on March 14, 2015. I’m toying around with a few different marathon training plans for this race, but I think the biggest thing I want to change is to focus on adding another 20+ miler into the training plan. For my first, I did a 20 miler and a 23 miler before the race, but I’d like to add another one in there too. Since I’ve been doing halfs all year and I’ve increased my mileage in the relay race I did in September, I think it would be beneficial to focus on the (even) longer distances. I also need to add in core work as part of my training plan so that I can keep myself on track with those exercises instead of just saying “I should do more of that.”

After looking at the Cool Running marathon training plan as well as a few others, I decided that I would go back to the Galloway training program but make sure to add another 20+ miler this time around. This also allows me to run fewer times during the week but still get my long runs in on the weekend. I really do think that the training plan I had for my first marathon was good for me, I just had a bad day. I’m also planning to keep my soccer playing to a reduced schedule this time around, so I can add in some additional days of just running in the middle of the week as well as the aforementioned core workouts!

Just like last time, I’ve put together a marathon training plan for this one and as I finalize more of my 2015 racing calendar, I’ll update that as well. I’m hoping that I can add a race or two into the weekends where I have my long runs planned so that I can do like I did last time and just add a couple of miles before the race starts. A couple of races that I’m looking at are:

• January 24 – Rain Run, Seattle or January 25 – Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans
• February 14 – Savannah Love Chocolate Half Marathon or February 22 – GRU Augusta Half Marathon