This fall, I will be running my third marathon — the NYC Marathon. This will be my second 26.2 tour of the boroughs (first was in 2008). For my previous marathons, my training had been fairly loose. I’d map out my long training runs, and just aim to do 2-3 shorter runs during the week.

That’s it.

This worked out fine when my goal was just to cover the mileage. Since this is my third marathon, I feel like I should step up my game a bit.

So I spent the last few weeks consulting some training plans. I thought about my current strengths and weaknesses, my shortfalls in training season, and my goals for this year. I checked out training plans to see what would fit my schedule and work for me.

I think that training plans aren’t really a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. I pick and choose and manipulate to fit my own goals/life. For this plan, I relied mostly on two books:

Four Months to a Four Hour Marathon had a pretty simple training plan. As I said before, preparing for my other marathons involved running only 3-4 days each week. I love to cross-train and this worked pretty well for me – kept me from burning out and/or getting injured. I was interested in a plan that catered to this, so when I saw that Jess from Fit Chick in the City mentioned Run Less Run Faster, I decided to pick it up.

At first glance, it seems that Run Less Run Faster only caters to the BQ-types (read: not me), but it includes thorough plans, detailed mile splits, and encourages intense running workouts only 3 times a week. Sold.

This year’s plan is much more detailed than my previous ones (I mean, the fact that there’s a solid plan at all is enough). I’m still viewing this plan as my goal. I already know that I’m not going to complete every single one of these workouts, or in the prescribed times. That’s okay with me. But this is a good start and a solid guide. And I figure if I can stick to it about 75% of the time, I’ll be in good shape.

My plan includes only 3 days of running per week, but the workouts are intense. I’ll also be relying pretty heavily on cross-training a few days a week to keep me balanced and (hopefully) injury-free (and still eager to run). I’ll be coming into the training plan already averaging about 20-25 miles/week, and already cross-training a few days a week.

The speed work and long run schedule, for the most part, was taken from Run Less Run Faster. The tempo runs are my own, with the exception of the 3-4 weeks before the marathon where I rely more heavily on the book’s workouts.

The green shaded long runs show that my workout coincides with a race… that might mean that I’m tacking a few miles on to a half-marathon, or a NYRR long training run, etc. Also, knowing that I still have about a month before training really starts up, I may change my goal and therefore the splits for my workouts.

Anyhow, coming up with a training plan is pretty fun. I’m really excited for this marathon and am stronger coming in to the training season than I have been in previous years. So with 138 days (and counting) until the race, I’m starting to set my goal. (But of course, I will not divulge my goal finish time until much much closer to the race).

Do you have any big races to plan for in the fall? How do you come up with your training plan?

*Note: I’m not your coach. This is my plan for my marathon. Get some ideas, do your own research, consult a coach if you need to. *

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Have you checked out my running book club? I’m reading a running book each month to keep me motivated through summer marathon training.  Here’s my review of Personal Record: A Love Affair with Running by Rachel Toor. I’ll be reviewing What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami the first Friday in July, if you want to join in!