I somehow caught a cold this week, but was able to get out for a 4.1 mile recovery run on Friday afternoon. It wore me out, but felt pretty good. I went ahead and did the run a day before I was planning to because the weather was so nice. I had a little tightness in my shins, but my quads felt great.
I’m trying to follow a loose 4-week recovery plan where I’ll incrementally get back to 30 or so miles a week over the next month. Then I think I’ll begin the Hal Higdon Intermediate II Marathon Training system (which comes highly recommended) to get myself in shape for a better showing at the NYC Marathon in November. Til then, I’ll just be stepping up the spinning classes, stength training, and yoga to see how I feel.
I am using that same training plan for my first marathon. Of course I will be doing the novice level.
Cool! I did the Runner’s World Smart Coach for my marathon training so far, and I think Hal Higdon’s plans are a little better… they at least get you out and running more often. This last Smart Coach plan had me running 2 days per week, which was good since I was in recovery, but I’m psyched for more miles this time around. I think the emphasis on long runs is going to really help me out endurance wise.