1st Week of Marathon Training Part Deux

So my grand plans for beginning marathon training didn't work out so well.  The desire was there, but so was the flu effecting my immune system. Sadly, I missed out on Warrior Dash this weekend because I was bed ridden. If you aren't in the Maryland area right now, then you aren't privy to this nasty little bug that seems to be going around. One by one it has been taking down so many of my co-workers, and we all have been drained of energy.  The good news is that I am on the mend, and I anticipate doing a short 3 miler tomorrow. 

I am planning on sticking to the same training plan that I committed to last week. I decided to go Novice 2 because it does provide a little bit more of a challenge.  My goals for this period of training is to work on lowering my mile time. I want to knock 1 to 2 minutes off of my mile time.  In order to do this, I need to drop some weight and I also need to weight train.  My goal is to finish the marathon between 4 and 5 hours and to not exceed 6 hours.

So my workout schedule looks something like this: (I am following the mileage of Novice 2, but adding more strength training)
Monday- 30 min. Cross Train and upper body weight training
Tuesday- short run
Wednesday- mid distance run and upper/lower body weight train
Thursday-short run
Friday- rest
Saturday- long distance run
Sunday- 60 min cross train and lower body weight train

All weight training reps are no more than 3 sets of 10. Note: If you are a beginning lifter, then you might want to do a lighter weight and only do 1 set. This is until you get acclimated to the weights, and once you feel more comfortable then up the reps, I have been lifting for about 12 years now and I know how to lift and how much.  So, I follow a  more difficult routine and I lift a lot of weight. Also, if you notice my lifting schedule takes off every other day.  You can rest in a variety of ways when it comes to lifting:
1. If doing a total body weight train- you need to rest 48 hours in between weight training sessions
2. If you only do upper or lower, then you can rotate every other day. For example, Monday-Upper body, Tuesday- lower body

Next race- Jeremy's Run to benefit the Komac Foundation
Jeremy's Run- 10k

Well here's to hitting the pavement tomorrow, weather permitting! Happy running.