The Choice is Made!

For Christmas, my family surprised me with the registration fees for the Rock 'n' Roll Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN on Saturday, April 26th 2014. This will be my first full marathon and I've already been warned that it's a hilly one. My Runner's World Smartcoach plan puts me at running a 3h:36m marathon. Smartcoach was only about 5 seconds/mile off on it's estimate for my 1/2, so it's at least in the ballpark. I signed up with the 3h:45m group, but I can always adjust as the dates get closer.

So it begins...again!

This past week I started a new training plan. 26 miles in 4 runs. They were all on the treadmill since we got a bunch of Snow, Ice and Rain in the last weeks. That's ok though. But I do have to say that 10 miles on the treadmill was BORING, even if I could watch Netflix at the same time.

5 miles - easy
6 miles - tempo : 8m 15s / Mile pace for 4 miles
5 miles - easy
10 miles - long :  9m 24s / Mile pace

The major difference in this plan from the last one is that it is not a half marathon plan. It is a full marathon plan! I've got 18 weeks until the marathon. There are 2 marathons in the last weekend of April of 2014 and I haven't made up my mind which one to run yet. They are the Illinois Marathon or the Nashville Rock n Roll Marathon. I'm leaning towards Nashville, but have had a bunch of folks tell me that the Illinois Marathon is a good race. Any thoughts about either of these races?

I also got notified last week that I will be a Hammer Nutrition sponsored Athlete for 2014! I've been very happy with Hammer Gel & Endurolytes. Be sure to check them out. You can also get 15% off your first order from them. Use this link below or mention my email johnny.matthews@gmail.com or customer number (218538) when you check out!