Sometimes I think the hardest part of training for a marathon is the mental aspect.  It is so easy to talk myself out of running or put it off for later in the day with all the other “tasks” that I need to accomplish.

I am not the type who can go off for a long run, 5 miles or more, without a course in mind or plotted out on mapmyrun.com.  This is for two reasons, one I want my  husband to have an idea of my route so he can bring me water or gels,  if it is a rural route, and if he worries he can check on me.  Two, I need to have an idea in my head of where I start, the path and where the end will be.  This route keeps me focused and gives me purpose beyond running.

Since I have 2 full marathons ahead of me this year I have been thinking about my training regime for these and I think I am going to tweak it a bit from last year.  Typically my training is run Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, off  Thursday or X-train run Friday with my long run on Saturday,  Sunday is literally my day of rest…or laundry, cooking, and kid playing anything I may have put off on Saturday.

I found however, that this gets to be a lot of running and so I am brainstorming  a possible coup on the typical regime with a new plan that my go something like this…run Monday and Tuesday, weights Wednesday, a spinning or bike ride on Thursday,  Friday run and the long run still on Saturday, still Sunday being rest or even a yoga class.

First I think I will be less likely to tire of running especially since we are somewhat rural, the same paths do not offer much excitement, and I am really going to be in training mode through the second marathon in October.  Second, I think that with a bit more cross training I may be stronger in other areas and maybe run faster?!?!

So here would be a typical 5 run                           Here is what I am planning

training schedule for week one                             I will still hit my long run each

of  marathon training:                                               week but add more X-training:

Monday: 3 Miles                                                              Monday: 3 Miles

Tuesday: 4 Miles                                                              Tuesday: 4 Miles

Wednesday: 4 Miles                                                       Wednesday:Strength/Weights

Thursday:Off                                                                    Thursday:Spinning/Bike

Friday: 3 Miles                                                                   Friday:  3 Miles

Saturday: 6 Miles                                                              Saturday: 6 Miles

Sunday: Off                                                                            Sunday: Off/Yoga

So even though it looks like I may be working out more, I will have a diverse training schedule, which will keep me interested and also reduce my risk of injury.  I think this will also give me more schedule flexibility regarding weather and class availability, hitting those long runs on Saturday will still be most essential.

What does your training schedule look like? How about a favorite or essential cross training workout?