Pittsburgh Marathon Training Update: January 2017

I am thrilled to say that marathon training is going very well so far! I am using a different training program than I have used for my past four marathons and I am really enjoying it thus far. I am currently using the Garmin Level 1 marathon training program which you can find here (click Find a Training Plan and scroll down). You can pick either heart-rate based or non-heart-rate based. For now I'm doing the heart-rate based program and while I don't stick right to the heart-rate target (I'm usually a bit above) it helps to know how the speed of my run should feel.

My first three weeks I've hit all but one run and it feels really great. The program asks you to run 3 times a week which is perfect for my schedule, and instead of giving you a certain distance to run, it's spent the first few weeks telling me to run for an allotted time which I prefer MUCH MORE because I know exactly how much time I need to carve out in my day for the run. I'm also loving that this program incorporates a variety of workouts like threshold runs, fartlek runs, and speed workouts. It makes each week of training much more interesting!

Overall, things are going very well so far which I am very happy about. I'm hoping to stay right on top of my training this spring and hopefully have one of my most successful marathons to date. I'm really happy I'm enjoying my training thus far instead of seeing it as a chore which I had started to do in the past. Hopefully I will continue on this roll in my training! I will be updating you each month on how things are going in my training to keep myself accountable. :)

Also, can we talk about how amazing my new watch face is for my Garmin? 

I'm definitely channeling my inner Mario with this training cycle! #LetsAGo!