Training for a Marathon: Aaron’s Journey: Part 2

AARON AKIN, Maximum Performance Fitness Director

We’re at the halfway point of training for the Bill Snyder Half-Marathon, and my workouts have been a whole lot of fun – mostly. More about “mostly” later. 

Let’s start with the good stuff: I’ve completed these training runs:

1. 4-mile run

2. Every 6 minutes for 36 minutes run 800 meters (intervals)

3. 5-mile run

4. Every 6 minutes for 36 minutes run 800 meters (interval)

5. 7.5-mile run

6. Every 6 minutes for 36 minutes run 800 meters (intervals)

7. 10-mile run

Every run has gone pretty well, except for the last two miles of the 10-mile run. My pace fell off considerably and I experienced cramping, which isn’t totally surprising considering I haven’t been that distance for 27-ish years. My plan is to back off the distance a bit this week and then build up again.

So far, training has gone pretty much as expected…I’m just trying to adapt to the pounding of the longer runs. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be working on pacing and trying to figure out what I will be most comfortable with on race day. Only a little less than a month to go.

Hope to see you on the starting line!