A Marathon Journey to Save my life - Day 4 (The Plan)

 Previous Blogs if you would like to catch up:

Day 1 - Introduction

Day 2 - Goals and Motivation

Day 3 - The Why

Today I spent the early morning hours thinking through the plan.  I personally like to take a calendar and write out each day, one at a time until the day I'm hoping to accomplish the goal.  

This way I can open it and visualize what I'm doing today, tomorrow and where I'm going to be in a week...

It's a great motivational tool to cross off each completed day.

I've also for my sports goals, such as this marathon, used an online calendar, that sends me daily reminders and allows me to compare my plan with my actuals... I'm a bit of a geek this way.  I use Training Peaks as my online calendar and I love it.

It will sync with my watch and gives me feedback on how "well" I'm doing.  Truly as long as you are moving forward, you are doing well!! :)

For this next month, I've incorporated Matt Fitzgerald's Running from Couch to 5K, to 10K to 1/2 marathon and ultimately to marathon plan.  Located HERE. I've manually typed in my plan into the TP tool and now I get to perform it! In future I will use a paid plan I bought years ago on Training Peaks and I'll use that to build up to the marathon as I really do enjoy Phil Mosley's approach as a trainer.  BUT THERE ARE FREE ways to get to the marathon.  You do not have to pay for anything if you do not want to. The article I mentioned above is FREE.

So... can't you just go out and run? YES Absolutely.  Then WHY would I bother to Plan - makes it feel painful! I hate planning, you say?

Well... the plan itself is again a MOTIVATOR. Remember in the Day 2 blog I mentioned that if we do not motivate ourselves.. the goal will fall to the wayside when life gets busy, tough, hard, or even when we grow weary of the long winter days :)

The Plan reminds us what we WANTED to do.  Checking off the completion box is VERY Rewarding!!

Canadian Magazine has a wonderful article that describes 5 Key Reasons to Follow a training plan.  It goes a bit like this: The plan takes guesswork and decision making around - no longer do you wonder, what should I do today? It allows you to start a base, build up and peak at all the right (average) moments.. puts the science into the sport for you... allows you to build muscle in an "industry best practiced" methodology.  We follow standards for a reason... beginner running is no different.  A plan means you also plan for REST Days... rest days are critical to rebuild muscle and tissue and recover for your next workout. Lastly, the confidence your mind and body feel from following a plan ensures you get the most out of achieving your goal - injury free!

AND DON'T forget - a plan is a method to get you going in the direction you wish to go... it can be changed, it can be adapted to how you are feeling and current environment.  Don't hesitate to adapt the plan to what YOU need.

GOOD LUCK!!