26.2 miles is a long way to run. Yes it might not be as far as this girl runs, or this superwoman, but for mere mortals like me, it’s a bloody long way.

For my second marathon, I’ve given myself a time goal of sub 4.30. Based on my current speed, as well as my half marathon and 10K PB’s it is achievable. However, with only 10 weeks to train for it, I am going to have to be efficient, work hard and train smart (such an americanism, sorry!)

On our run two weeks ago, I was speaking to Ashley about her coach, Gia. She raved about working with her, and so I checked out her website. Ashley put me in touch with her, and also mentioned that she had a deal for Healthy Happier readers, as well as a NYCM deal. With no real clue what to expect from the NYCM, and the realisation that it is hilly, I knew taking advice from an expert that has run the course 3 times would be key to success.

Gia has put together a training plan with runs scheduled 4-5 times a week, as well as cross-training and yoga (obviously I will interpret this as Pilates!)

What’s different about this plan is that it is tailored to my pace and time goal. It also includes things like ‘strides‘ and progression runs that I probably wouldn’t have included in my own plan. In addition, it features more than one 20 miler!! Hoping I don’t hit the wall at mile 20 this marathon! With a coach to report to, I’m sure I’ll be more diligent at sticking to my training plan, as well as taking her advice on resting, fueling and pacing.

Long Runs

Mostly my long runs will be completed on a Sunday, with the exceptions of a few Saturdays where I have races, and

01/09- 10 miles
07/09- 13-14 miles, tagged onto the Women’s Running 10K
13/09- 16 miles
21/09- 18 miles
29/09- 20 miles (gulp!)
06/10- 16 miles, tagged onto the Royal Park’s Half Marathon
13/10 20-22 miles, Kingston Garmin Run Challenge – either 16 or 24 mile race
19/10- 13-14 miles, tagged on to Whole Food’s Women’s Richmond Park Run
27/10- 10 miles
03/11- New York Marathon!!!

Don’t forget you can follow my training here, or on Handbag.com, my first week’s training has just gone live!

New York Marathon Blog: Training Week 1

Where do you get your training plans from? For the London Marathon, I used Hal Higdon’s Novice Supreme plan, which got me round the course, but didn’t include any speed or hill work.