One of the first questions I get from people after telling them that I’m going to run a marathon in December is, “So how are you training for it?“. To which my answer was usually something like, “Uh, running?”. I’m usually such a good planner, I like making lists and calendars and all that organizational stuff, so why hadn’t I thought to put some of that organizational skill to good use for marathon training yet?

So I went out last weekend and bought Marathon Running: From Beginner to Elite and put together a 4 month running schedule for myself (after which I plan to join a running group with The Running Room).

Here’s what this week’s schedule looked like (trust me, it gets harder):

Monday 7am: Easy run 20 mins (“easy” running is as slow as I want it to be)

Wednesday 7am: Easy run 30 mins

Friday 7am: Easy run 20 mins

Sunday 10am: Steady run 30 mins (“steady” is quicker than easy but still a pace that allows you to have a conversation)

Eventually I will be doing one long run a week, which I’ve scheduled for Sundays because it’s the weekend and I’ll have more spare time. I may eventually end up switching my long run day to Saturday if I find that doing a long run on Sunday followed by a run on Monday morning becomes too difficult.