Do You Need A Training Schedule?

I've been asked more than once this week (OK, so I should have just written twice), "What training schedule are you using to chart your runs?"

Good question.

Let's go back to 1999... queue the music...

In the spring of that fateful year, I was a wee young lad of 28... fast approaching 29 and knowing the big 3-0 was just around the corner. I guess I felt like I needed to do something with my life before 30. You'll see in a moment.

On one "particularly fat" day, I was standing in my cube reminiscing about something that must have been of grand importance to me when I said, "You know, I'll be glad..." (and at that time I was looking down) when all of a sudden the sentence was finished for me "... when you can see your feet?" That extremely rude, yet accurate, comment was blurted out by my friend and coworker Mel.

She giggled with glee at her timing.

I was stunned... probably because she was right. OK, she was absolutely right. So that very day I came home, changed into my running gear, and hit the pavement. Living in the apartments, I found a better locale in a nearby neighborhood and turned that one run into many as the weeks built up.

As I continued to run, I started pushing myself to run further and further. I really didn't have a schedule... it was just what came to me ("Hey, try running for 35 minutes straight... try running for 40 minutes straight." And so forth.) I made my way up to the 50-minute mark and figured "I must be running 5 miles if I'm running 10-minute miles." But, I wasn't exactly certain... or correct.

I hopped in my car and drove the distance and discovered I was running just under 5 miles... like 4.5. Now that I had a measurement, I began really mapping my distance (by car... oh the technology!) and pushing myself toward somewhat accurate goals.

Around this time, I came up with the idea that I would run in the Dallas White Rock Marathon. I figured it wasn't much further than I was running, right? At the time, I thought a marathon was about 15 miles. Not sure where I got that number, but that's what I envisioned.

I decided to start declaring this goal to everyone, too. "Hey, guess what? I'm gonna run in the White Rock Marathon! Yeah... you heard it right!" Even Mel was a bit surprised...

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: A marathon is 26.1! Holy moly I need a plan... and a reality check!

So I went out and found one on MarathonTraining.com. It helped me then, and it's helping me now. I like this program because you don't go up more than 10% each week and it gives you a break every 5 weeks (such as the one I'm on right now).

Back in 1999, I did finally run in my first (and only) marathon. I ran 26.1 miles from downtown Dallas, out to White Rock Lake, and back to downtown... and I did it in a whopping 4 hours, 48 minutes. There is no way I could have done that had I not planned for it properly.

Anyhoo, it got me to thinking that people reading my blog may want to do some sort of training but may not know how to go about that process. I can customize something for you if you're interested... just post a comment or shoot me an email. It can be as simple as, "I'd like to be able to run 3-miles consistently" to "I just want something that keeps me motivated to keep going each day - a general exercise program."

Just remember: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!