Episode 76: Road to Grandma's Marathon- Training Updates, Building a Training Plan & Useful Books

In this episode, Katie takes a behind-the-scenes look at marathon training in real life—no perfect schedules, no ideal conditions, just consistency, adaptability, and a whole lot of grit.

From self-coaching strategies to balancing training with work, parenting, and unpredictable weather, this episode dives into what it really looks like to prepare for a goal race. You’ll hear a detailed breakdown of Katie's workouts, strength training integration, and how she structures a training plan that actually fits her life.

Katie also explore the mental side of racing—managing expectations, letting go of outcome pressure, and learning to trust the process. Plus, we share favorite training resources and books that inspire smarter, more intentional running.

Whether you're training for your first race or chasing a PR, this episode is packed with practical insights and honest reflections to help you train with purpose.

⏱️ Episode Breakdown

[00:00] Training Update Begins

[03:00] Week 1 Training Recap

[12:00] Mid-March Training Update

[17:30] Long Run & Weekly Volume

[18:30] Real-Life Scheduling Challenges

Training Philosophy & Structure

• Cap weekly mileage around ~70 miles
• Add cross-training (elliptical) for aerobic benefit with less impact
• Emphasis on:
  • Progression runs
  • Marathon pace work (later in cycle)
  • Speed development early in training

Typical Weekly Structure:

• 2 quality workouts
• 1 long run
• Easy/recovery days taken very seriously
• Strength training paired with hard run days

Training Resources Mentioned

Books & Authors:

• Advanced Marathoning – Pete Pfitzinger & Scott Douglas
• Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon – Matt Fitzgerald & Brad Hudson
• Marathon Excellence for Everyone – John Davis
• Modern Training and Physiology – John Davis
• The Practice of Change – Dan Cleather
• How Bad Do You Want It? – Matt Fitzgerald

Key Takeaways:

• Blend multiple training philosophies
• Adapt plans to your individual needs
• Training is both a science and an art

Mental Training Insights

• The challenge of letting go of outcome-based goals
• Managing race anxiety and sleep issues
• Reframing success:
  • Focus on effort, not just results
  • Accept uncontrollable factors (weather, race day variables)
• Learning to trust the process and enjoy training

Key Takeaways

• Consistency > perfection
• Structure your training around your life—not the other way around
• Hard days should be hard, easy days should be easy
• Progression and specificity matter as race day approaches
• Mental preparation is just as important as physical training

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hey everybody. So I'm gonna be doing things a little bit differently for this episode. Because I'm recording it every few weeks. I decided that maybe I would do something where I record a little bit more frequently and just kind of put it together all in one episode. Now I'm about a week and a half in, and then I'll record a little bit of something later on. But I wanted to discuss today my training so far. You know, I I I coach myself. I thought about getting a coach this time around, and it I think for me it was a little bit of a cost issue of like hiring a coach. I know that, you know, there's a benefit, like a huge benefit to having a coach, but one of the reasons that I decided not to hire a coach is because I have been running for so long. I feel like I know myself pretty well. I do think that sometimes I have it, or in the past I've had a tendency to overdo it. And so, you know, maybe having had a coach at that time would have been good. There's definitely some races in the past. I think back when I did 2017 Boston, I probably would have really benefited from a coach at that point. I definitely overdid it many days. I didn't do my recovery days as well as I should have. I mean, I was better at it then, but there's definitely things that I I've kind of learned along the way. But I because I have so much going on in my life, I feel like a lot of things change almost day to day with my training and with my son and my work schedule. It's just hard, you know, to kind of communicate that always with a coach. So that's one reason. It's just like I have a lot more control over my schedule as where I put the workouts. The other thing is like I said, I have so much experience with running now that I feel like one of the big problems I have is finding a coach that, you know, is gonna work with me and with what I want to do and my ideas for the workouts I want to achieve. It's almost like I need more of a mentor. And I kind of have a few mentors, people that I kind of talk to about my training. So, you know, Justin's kind of one of them. Sometimes I'll bounce ideas off of him to see what he thinks, or I have another running mentor that he's a little older than me, and I run with him a lot of my long long runs, and he is a great mentor. I'll tell him kind of what I'm doing and he'll help, you know, sort of give me input. So I do hack I do actually have people who are helping me. It's not like I'm in this alone. So because I like to have some more control over my workouts, and I actually really like kind of creating the plan. I thought it was best if I just did it. You know, it's a lot of commitment and time. And like I've said, I've been reading some other resources on, you know, training, physiology, marathon training, workouts, things like that that I kind of consume a lot of information that I, you know, then put into the training plan and think a lot about it. And sometimes that's a lot of thought. It takes a lot of, you know, effort and time. So that's the downside. But I did want to sort of start like go through how my workouts are going. I have my training peaks up. That's like what I said. That's what I use for all my workouts. I put them all in there. Um I wanted to start March 1st, it was the very first day I started training. I mean, I have been training, that's officially the start of my marathon training for grandmas. And on March 1st, I I did this uh tortoise in the hair race, was basically like a local fun running event that they put on where you know people who might have a tie like take longer to run might start first, and then the sh the people that sort of take shorter time to run that it's a 10K. This time it was a 10K, and they go kind of later. So you're kind of catching people as you run, which is kind of fun. And then you get to see a lot of other people out there. It's not like where you do race and you're kind of if you're kind of out front, you don't always get to see the people behind you unless you like finish and go cheer them on or something. So that's a fun little kind of race, but it's I use it more as like a workout. And I did an alternation run. So every half a mile, I changed my pace alternating between my like goal 10 pay 10k pace and then kind of a little bit slower than my marathon pace. So it's like ended up being kind of right around like the the time I took to run was right around where I'd want to be, maybe for right now where I would want to be for like a half marathon in terms of my time goal. So it was like around a 632 pace average. So it was alternating between like 610, 615 and like 655 to seven minute pace but every half a mile. So it's just a fun, I like that workout. It kept it interesting. I didn't finish feeling like totally wiped out either. I probably could have done another couple of reps of this. It's fun because you're kind of slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up. You're not doing the same pace the whole time. Kind of show it kind of helps support like recruitment of different muscle fibers while you're running, kind of getting used to alternating between paces. It's it's just a fun little workout that I like to do. Sometimes these like I call them alternation runs. I'm sure there's over-unders might be another word for that sort of workout. But it's just fun. It was it was a fun day. I did a little bit of a deadlift that day just because I, when I have races or workouts, I find it really challenging to put in my strength training. It's like trying to fit in the strength training at the appropriate time is hard. So I often do my strength training on harder days. Now, that particular day is usually my long run day, and I don't do strength training, especially when the long run is longer than like, I don't know, 12 miles. But that day was a 10-mile day with the race. So I felt, you know, I could add the deadlift in to that day. So just did like a short heavy deadlift and then some lunges and single single leg deadlifts with like lighter weight. So like just Justin and I had talked about in our strength versus muscle mass episode that this running or this deadlift strength training piece, like I often do like a heavy set of something and then some supporting exercises. And depending on how much time I have, it's kind of how much supporting exercises I put in there. I don't want to overdo it. But that's kind of how that day went. And then I had Monday, the second was like a nice recovery day, easy, you know, five miles or so. I think I did maybe I actually maybe split that into two easy runs. So five miles and three miles. Um, and then I did bench press day, so heavy bench press or a dumbbell. Actually, I just did dumbbell, heavy dumbbell bench press, and then some rows and triceps extensions and just a little arm workout. And then Tuesday was actually a very windy, kind of rainy day. And I just I just did not feel like doing that workout outside. So on Tuesday the third, I did like a progression run. So this kind of the something I mentioned too in that first episode was one of the things I really need to work on is like finishing my runs strong. Some of doing some runs where I start out a little easier, finish strong, and those runs will sort of progress a little bit, long a little bit longer over time. I might do some of that in my long runs on the weekends as well. But for this one, it was just seven miles progressing faster each mile. Because I was on the treadmill, you don't I don't always trust the treadmill versus my watch. It's really hard to know. I don't think it's as accurate. It's a nice treadmill, but it's not one of like the very high-end treadmills that are like thousands of dollars. It works, but I think it's a little bit off. So I always just kind of go more on feel. So I don't know kind of the paces. I just know that like that last mile or two, I was really pushing the pace a bit. And then I kind of backed off a little bit, did a cool down mile, and that was that day. I was all on the treadmill. So within that, I kind of get bored. So I alternate up and down a little bit, like it's a so that it's simulating maybe more of like a hilly terrain or all, you know, rolling terrain. And then on Wednesday, that was like one of my big workouts. So this was a little bit interesting because I had that hard one on Sunday, like a harder, it wasn't like a super hard workout, but I had the workout on Sunday. I had one rest day. I did the progression run, which isn't very hard. It starts easy and it's really hard more towards the end. But then, you know, I right into Wednesday, I did a workout where I did sort of a ladder workout where I started with three minutes at a little slower than 5k pace, one two minutes at 5k pace, and then one minute faster than 5k pace. So, and the rest in between, um I believe was about a minute and then two minutes after that last rep. But then I did four of those sort of ladder intervals, three, two, one times four. So um that actually went really well. The first one was a little rough. I probably should have done some stride outs before I started the workout, but it went really well. I the last the next three, I felt like I hit my paces really good. So I felt strong. And that was my back squat, heavy back squat day. So again, I do my hard running workout first, and then later on in the day, I try to give myself some a break so that I'm not running and then doing the backs, the heavy lifting right away. I try to do it, you know, separated if I can. If not, I try to eat, really refuel, and then do the strengths. But I do them on the same day that because usually the next day would be like a recovery day. So then I'm kind of beat up, but at least I have a day or so to recover before another workout. So that seems to work really well with me by placing those lifting days on a hard run day. I don't do, like I said, on a long run day because my legs are just so wiped out from the long run. I just wouldn't get much out of the strength. It would be really hard. Um, but that's sort of how I'm placing my strength. And then Thursday was a recovery. I did like a seven mile recovery. I did a heavy bench press, again, another arm workout that day. And then Friday I did it was another not so nice day outside, very windy. Oh, actually, it was like a snowstorm. So I just decided again, this is why I like my treadmill. I did the treadmill and I did like four minute like thresholds. I did some at incline of eight percent at like eight percent, just pushing it into a heart rate zone that was more of a threshold threshold zone, and then alternating with four minutes at a faster pace, so kind of alternating, and it was all in my threshold part rate zone. And so it was more of a threshold. So I did seven of those four minutes, and that felt actually really good. So I was surprised. I pushed myself a little bit that week. I I did my heavy deadlift again that week, um that day, again, placing it on the same day as my workout, and then I had a five-mile recovery day on Saturday. And so my and then my long run 15 miles on Sunday, I felt a little bit flat, but I had gone like 60 that day that week total was like 61 miles. And so I just I just yeah, I just think sometimes that happens, and we and then the oh, but the time changed on Sunday too. So it was the eighth. I don't know if that much to throw me off. I felt fine, but I just uh it wasn't like as peppy of a long run as I was hoping, but it it went well. I'm not I'm not gonna complain. I finished it, I felt pretty good. Um and so that was my first kind of full week of training. I think overall I'm pretty excited about how it's going. I did have a little bit of a struggle with sleep on Sunday evening where I think I just didn't recover. I didn't like to sit down and rest. It's like a common. We have animals, we have I have my son, there's just a lot to do, um, you know, cleaning the house, making dinner, prep meal prep. And I really didn't have a chance to like really unwind and I don't know, kind of just didn't sleep that well that night. Um but this week so far is also, you know, going well. So I think I think I'll come come out of it. But you know, that was one of the things I mentioned I struggle with a little bit. So I'm gonna end it there for now, but I'm gonna come back at you with a little bit more of an update on my training and more of some of the resources that I use as well for my training plan. Good morning. I'm recording this part of my episode on Tuesday, March 17th. So I'm wearing my lucky poor leaf clover hat for St. Patrick's Day, and just kind of wanting to fill everyone in on kind of the last time I recorded was up until sort of the end of last week, and so I wanted to sort of do an update on how my training is going for from there through the weekend until today, kind of what's up, what's going on. And then I also wanted to share some information about my some of the resources that I'm using for my training plan and just things, books that I've found really helpful in sort of creating a training plan. I'm always looking for new ideas and looking for inspiration. So I also wanted to share some of that today. So a little bit of update from the last time I recorded. I actually, so the end of last week, I basically the so the beginning of last week, I think I mentioned this, I had put a lot of mileage in. So I tried to front load my week a little bit. I did a 10-mile sort of tempo run and a four-mile run on Tuesday. Monday I did a recovery run. Wednesday I did another double run. I think it was a total of like nine miles. So I front loaded all of my effort to the beginning of the week. And then I sort of did a mini taper six miles on Thursday, four miles on Friday. So tried to kind of reduce my mileage, taper a little bit, seems strenuous. I did all my strength in the beginning of the week last week. And on Saturday, I did a 5K, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was actually the at the 5K I had got my lucky four-leaf clover hat, and I actually won some money. Talk about that in a minute, but I really wasn't sure what to expect. I had sort of a higher volume the week prior and then the early early in the week last week before the 5K, so I wasn't sure if it was going to go well or if I was gonna feel tired. I was it was kind of one of those things where just because of the nature of my training and the fact that the marathon's kind of my primary focus, um, I didn't have the luxury of like going into it fully fresh and fully tapered and um 100%. So it was either gonna go good, okay, or maybe not so good. I just wasn't sure. And um, in the morning I felt pretty good. I'm gonna wake up when I have a race. I I wake up, I usually have oatmeal. So I had a bowl of oatmeal, I put peanut butter in there and a little bit of maple syrup. Sometimes I use like a little bit of like protein milk in there as well, just to kind of that seems to be what works best for me in terms of fueling and blood pre and blood sugar, kind of can keeping my blood sugar a little more stable before I try to do that about 90 minutes before the start, maybe two hours. I think I had that by the time I left. It was like 7:30 in the morning by the time I left to go to the race. And then I so I drove to it was a start, it started somewhere different than it finished. So I drove to the start the finish and then ran with my friend over to the start, and then we ran, and then we ran the race from there. So like there was a little back drop-off thing too as well. So I was able to kind of bring all my stuff with me and take all my sweats off before the race. But we warmed up about three miles, and I see what about 45 minutes, 30, 45 minutes before the race, I drank. It was I've been trying out this black currant berry powder that's supposed to be similar to beetroot juice. It's a nitrates, it helps with basodilation, so getting blood flow to the muscles. I think the brand name is two before, but I'm just trying it out. I have no opinion really so far. I think it's been helpful in a few workouts I've tried. But I did I did use that, and then about 10 minutes before the start, I did take a UCAN gel because I the weather actually was going to be quite foul on Sunday. So I was actually gonna try to do 16 miles. It's not a preferred thing. Like I prefer not to race and then have to add on 10 miles. But with the weather forecast being quite windy on Sunday, I just didn't want to have to do my long run on Sunday. So I ended up doing the race and then and then adding 10 miles after. But yeah, so we started the race and I actually felt pretty good, but I think I went out a little bit fast. So it was like around 550 to six-minute pace in there somewhere, and I'm like, well, I'm either gonna be able to hang on for dear life to this pace, or I am going to slow. I'm not gonna be able to maintain it. So kind of settled into around a six-minute pace, and I a little sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower throughout the race, but I was able to hang on to that. It was generally kind of uncomfortable, like most 5Ks are. I wasn't, um I was pretty much going as fast as I could in that moment. I suppose like maybe I could have gone a little bit faster, but again, I wasn't sure if it was gonna be one of those situations where I was just gonna die before the finish and not be able to maintain the pace. So I'm pretty happy with that. It ended up being a a slightly long course, um, I think maybe 0.5 to you know 1.10 to 0.05 off. So I think I got like six point or sorry, three point one is my garment or something like that. So it was a little bit long, but it was an 18.8 time was my was my 5k time. So I'm pretty happy with that, especially with just like the fact that I haven't been really training for a 5k. That sort of puts me ahead of where I thought I was gonna be this time of year for my fitness. And if with the marathon, if you can be a little bit speedier going in, generally can, you know, it's 5k doesn't really determine what you're gonna get in the marathon. You can't train for a 5K and run a fast marathon, but I do believe if you go into it into your marathon training a little bit on the speedier end and feeling fast and having a fast 5k, that can be a good um indication that maybe your marathon will also be a little bit faster as long as you obviously train appropriately. So I was very happy with that. And then basically, in order to kind of make it to the awards and try to get my mileage in, I was running laps around where they had the finish, and I ended up getting this hat and some pasta, which I couldn't eat because my son has celiac disease and gave that away. But I just stick around long enough to see if I would win some money because they were doing this lucky sevens thing at the race. They were either gonna win$7,77 or$777. And I ended up winning$77.$777 would have been a lot better, nicer, obviously, but I was happy to win some money and um finished up my 10 miles and it was a good day. And then on Sunday we ran a longish run, but because it was so windy and I mean cold, like 20 degrees, and I think the wind chill was like one degree or below zero. It was really cold. We ended up, and the wind's coming from the north, so I went with my running buddy Bob. We ended up going out, and luckily his wife helps us sometimes with our long runs, and and she's great. She dropped us off and then we ran with the wind out our back, and we did 10 on Sunday. So that was nice. It was a kind of an easier run. It was nice to have the wind, tailwind, pushing us a little bit and uh getting in some extra mileage there. So I ended up the week around 66 miles, which is really good. I wasn't expecting that much, but going into this week, I had to take I took yesterday off. My son has spring break. So what that means for me is that it's a little harder to get in the runs because he's with me. I worked today, so I'm gonna try to fit in my run a couple runs today. I'm gonna have to break it up because of my schedule. Yesterday I took the day off because I was with him all day and just probably kind of needed a day off, honestly. Um, and then Wednesday is gonna be tricky again because he's with me all day. So I'm either forced to kind of run on the treadmill or run later in the day. And then Thursday I and Friday I work at the hospital. So I'm gonna have to fit in my run around that. So this is just a really tricky week. I've kind of decided this is a down week for me. That's why I didn't want to take it last week too easy because um I wanted this week, I knew this week was gonna not be a great training week just because of all the commitments I have. It's kind of a down week. I'm gonna try to do a workout today and then um another run. So I'm gonna have to break it up and I'm gonna try to do a run tomorrow. And um Thursday after work and then Friday morning, and then I'm gonna try to get some mileage in this weekend, but it just isn't gonna be, you know, I this happens, it's kind of like life happens. I have to fit in the runs when I can sometimes. And so this week probably will be down to maybe 40 miles, you know. So kind of an off of a down week, which is fine because then I'm gonna try to ramp it up again into my mileage and training up again into next week and then into April. So um, that's a little update on my training. Um, I'm gonna share. I also, like I said, want to share a little bit more about some of the resources that I'm using to create my training plan, just inspiration. So I sort of have like an idea of the mileage I want to get, but the I like to kind of find inspiration from other people from other workouts people do, and then kind of see how it's gonna fit, maybe if those workouts may fit into my plan, kind of how I want to um create my training plan. So I'll talk a little bit about that as well. All right, so I wanted to share a little bit about my process for creating my training plan for grandmas and some of the resources and books that I've used. So maybe that will be helpful for you to be able to, I don't know, look into these books if you're interested more on just different methodologies for training and different ideas for workouts. And I kind of take like so my process is well, let's So, my process for creating my training plan is I start with kind of looking back at what I've done for previous training plans. So I will go and look, you know, I have training peaks that I use and I've been using that for a while. So kind of go look back at what training I did, especially for my last build, which was back in Vermont City. And I felt like that one went pretty well. I've kind of explained before the things that I want to sort of add to it. So I'll kind of go back and analyze like what went well the race, what didn't, what type of training would maybe benefit me to do more of to prepare myself better for my next marathon. And then I'll kind of build it from there. So what went well, you know, I think what went well the last time was I did, I was able to get my mileage up. I even got it up to about 75. I do think that in some cases, with everything else going on in life, that trying, there was a lot of times where I was like trying to hit that mileage goal and I would do like double run sometimes. And I think sometimes that would leave me a little bit tired for some of my key workouts. Like I never felt really exhausted, but I do think that sometimes trying to hit a certain mileage would leave my legs a little bit tired for some of those key workouts. So there's a few things in this training plan, I'm not going to go above 70 miles a week, but I am going to add when I'm capable, when I'm able to, I am going to add some elliptical workouts, cross training to sort of get that same aerobic benefit, but maybe not so much of the pounding on my legs. And so I'm going to hit a top top off at about 70 miles a week at my highest, maybe just a touch over that, but nothing really much higher than that. And then I'm going to add in the cross training. And so that way I'm hoping that when I do hit those key marathon workouts, those long runs, I'm really able to get the most out of that for my training. The other thing I had already mentioned was doing some more of those like progression runs where it starts easy and ends a little bit closer to marathon pace and really practicing what it feels like to be running that marathon pace on more tired legs. So that when I get to the end of my marathon, I am kind of already understand what that feels like and it's nothing new. And I know I can work through it. The other thing is just doing more, those long runs, doing more marathon pace work, longer chunks of time at marathon pace. So instead of like two miles on marathon pace, like a rest and two miles would be like more like four miles or five or six miles all at once at marathon pace during some of those long runs or moderate, medium distance long runs, so that I can really practice, especially as I get closer to the marathon, being at that pace and being comfortable at that pace. So that doesn't really come into the picture too much now, but that'll be as I get closer. And so the way I've created this plan is to really like start out with more speed early on. So I'm doing more like things that are quite a bit faster than marathon pace, and then running that is a little quite a bit slower sometimes than marathon pace. So it's it's kind of like it starts out and these paces that are either really fast and speedy to kind of build my speed, build my strength, you know, easy runs, long runs are more easy, not necessarily building in too much of that marathon pace stuff yet. And then as it gets closer and closer, my pace kind of comes together a little bit more to be more like close to marathon pace within the last month or so before the marathon. So it starts out with a lot of the speed, quicker running, more like anything from 5K to half marathon pace. And then it'll become, as I get closer to the marathon, more work at marathon pace. So that's kind of broadly how I've structured it. I also do a lot of like ramp ups. So the last two weeks I did like 60, 65. Today, this week I had, like I've already mentioned, I had to kind of do a cutback week because of my schedule. But then I'll do starting next week, kind of build back up to 60, 65, 70, top off at 70, and then have another, like, you know, either stay there for a couple weeks or I'll top off there and then have another kind of cutback week, depending on how I feel and my schedule. And then I'll do it again. I'll kind of ramp back up 65, 70, and then try to stay at 70 for a few weeks and then kind of maybe come back down. And then um from there, it won't go back up necessarily to 70, but it'll kind of go into some of my more marathon-specific pace work. So my might top off after that around 60, as I'm doing a lot of marathon pace um work in that final stretch to the marathon. And so that's kind of how I've structured it. So I have these like weeks that are really tough, but I do have some weeks where when I mean cut back, it's more of like a deload week where I bring my mileage down a little bit. So I go from like 70 to 50 or 55 for a week. And then it's just a little easier to manage. It gives me some recovery time, helps my body sort of recover from the work that I put in the prior weeks. Um, and then I can kind of keep building from there. And I found that that really helps me mentally to be able to have some of those weeks that are just a little bit easier, a little bit, you know, more recovery, and then kind of go back into like some really tough high mileage weeks and obviously the cross-training. And so that's kind of how I structure it. But then within the training plan, the way I structure each week is a little bit different depending on the goal for that week. But I usually have like two harder workouts in a long run. So the way I spread those out kind of depends on, you know, how I feel. I wish I could do like a almost like an eight or nine day cycle, but I have to run my long runs like on Sundays. I don't really have an option generally to be able to do that during the week because I don't have like three or four hours to just be able to run during the week. So the way I try to structure it is like long run Sunday. So that's anywhere usually between like 12 and 20 during marathon training. And then the next day, sorry, then so 12 and 20, and then the next day is an easy run, and then I'd usually do a workout either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how hard my long run was. Sometimes I need a couple days of recovery. I might do like a progression run sort of on Tuesday where it would be like a little bit easier, and then building into something at the end where I'm running a couple miles a little bit harder, and then do a workout Wednesday, because that still leaves me a little bit, it's not as super hard to do that progression run on Tuesday and then a workout Wednesday, and then maybe another workout Friday. So it does, it's a little hard sometimes to space out the recovery. Something I kind of have to like play around with sometimes is like how I space the recovery, how hard the workout is. Sometimes I'll do like there's a couple times in my training plan I'll do like a double threshold in an attempt to kind of front load my week, especially if I have like a race or something I have to do. That's gonna be an example of like next week I'm doing that because I have a half marathon I want to run. But I also again don't have the liberty to really fully taper for that because I have to be this week just has to be easier because of my schedule. So sometimes I mean, I think this is the thing. We're not professional runners. I don't have the liberty to just create my plan exactly how I want it because I also have to think about life and my son and his schedule and my work schedule, and it gets complicated. So, you know, sometimes you just have to work around that and you have to do the best that you can with the circumstances that you have to still get the most out of it. And I always have to keep in mind grandma's is my, you know, a race, that's my goal. So these other races I'm doing are kind of there just to sort of see where I'm at and they're kind of fun and and more, not necessarily workout, but they're some of them I sort of build in as a workout, but sometimes they're just there to see kind of where I'm at and where my fitness is. And I don't have to necessarily feel 100% and be my absolute best on that particular day because I want to feel I want I'm wanting that to be how I feel on the day I do grandma's, hopefully. So that's kind of like some high sometimes how I'm structuring my easy days versus my hard days. Sometimes on my harder days, I try to load those days a little bit more. So I might do the like I might do a double and I have like a hard workout and then an easy run or an easy run, really easy run in the morning and then the hard workout. And then I also try to do my strength training, leg strength training on those days. So those days are really hard. So when I do my recovery days, they're very easy. Like I'm running sometimes, just plodding along very easy. It's more of like an active recovery. So I take my recovery days very seriously. And sometimes that's when I'll do my cross-training too, because I can kind of get my heart rate up without really having it tax my muscular system and my tendons and my it doesn't, it's not like I'm pounding on the pavement. So I can kind of do the cross-training on those recovery days and still feel like I'm recovered enough for the workout the next day. So that's sometimes how I'll plan my week. I did want to mention some of the things that I'm using as inspiration or just some of the books I've been reading that it can help me think about my training plan, help me create maybe different workouts that I can do that might be interesting or different. Obviously, you don't want to be trying to create novel workouts every week just to do that. I mean, a lot of the workouts that have there's a rhyme and reason to the workout and what it is doing, but I do like a little bit of sort of different. I don't like to do the same workout over and over again all the time. So a lot of the workouts are have the same, like there's a a reason to them, but maybe they build on it builds on a little bit. So it might be like two minutes at 5k pace, then three minutes at 5k pace, and then you know, that that's the interval time, and then I'm taking rest in between, or it might be like 1k at my threshold pace, and then maybe five minutes at threshold pace, and then so it kind of like the workouts themselves have like a reason or rhyme and reason, and then I'm just kind of building upon it. So the workouts aren't always the same every week. I hope that kind of makes sense, but they're a little bit different, but very there's a there's kind of a reason the way the workouts progress. And so here, I'll show, I'll share some of my resources that I've used with you. So the very um the first one, I don't have the actual physical, physical book because I read a lot or I listen to a lot on Audible. So this is going to be um the the books that I've been reading on Audible. So let me see, I've got it over here. Advanced Marathonine is one that I've used a little bit, um, actually throughout the past three or four years. I read it a while ago or you listened to it, and I've listened to it parts of it a couple times. But that's by Pete Fitzinger and Scott Douglas. So that's called Advanced Marathonine. It's just a basic, you know, a nice basic book on like the physiology of the marathon, how to create a training plan. Like, and so some of it is a little bit more targeted, maybe for like more advanced or elite athletes, but I do like that particular book. The other one that I did use and and found helpful was Run Faster from 5K to the Marathon, and that's by Matt Fitzgerald and Brad Hudson. And that was another book that I've read and kind of re-listened, actually again listened to on Audible, and then I re-listened to it a couple chapters, especially like the marathon training section, a couple times. So even though I have such a background in, you know, exercise and running, I still find this information I'm getting from different sources helpful. I kind of take what I think is useful for me and leave the rest, or if there's athletes I'm working with specifically, like my particular runners I work with, there might be things that kind of resonate with me because everybody has a different, you know, training style, like things that work well for them. Everybody has things that don't, types of workouts that don't work well for them. People recover at different rates. And so it's just helpful for me to kind of get all this information and then use it not only for my own training, but I like to retain information and gather information and and tips and different training methodologies that help might help me in the future working with uh athletes that I coach. So, you know, that's you know, and a lot of these I'll just I have on hand, I'll re-listen to, I'll re-engage with, you know, kind of as I see um helpful when I'm working with people. So the other one I use, and these are physical copies. So there's um an author called his name is John Davis, and he wrote Marathon Excellence for Everyone. And it's a comprehensive evidence-based approach to training. And so this is what the book looks like. I didn't, I don't know this person, so I'm not, you know, I'm just putting this out there. I just like I got this book. I love that it's um it's big. There's a lot in here that kind of talks about he has different training plans from like sort of more beginner to really advanced, like elite, like up to 120 miles a week. And so if you're kind of just looking for something to follow, that you know, there's a training plan, 18-week training plan. He's got one for different levels, which is kind of cool. And then he has different scenarios, like what happens if you get sick? Should you do like fasted workouts, techniques that you can use that are more advanced to maybe see if that you know helps you in your marathons. So an example of that would be like the fasted workouts, like there might be like the double threshold. So he kind of has that in the book, like it's kind of neat. And that sense, just I think for somebody who's maybe done a few marathons and wants a little bit more, maybe more things, more things they can try, or someone that likes to experiment a little bit. There's some interesting options options that he mentions in this book to kind of you know more advanced things you can try to maybe help you improve in your marathon. But it's a nice, I think the workouts, it's really thought out, obviously put some work into it. So I do I did like that book. I'm kind of using it. I actually using it for some of the workouts that I put in my plan and definitely a lot of incorporation of those progression runs he has in the in the plans. And I think that was kind of what I was looking for is like, okay, maybe I need to do more of these sort of progression runs. And so that that's kind of where I found that helpful for that book. And then the same author did modern training and physiology. It's just a nice little book. It's a simple kind of goes over the basics of exercise physiology. Uh it's just a it's a nice little resource when I'm trying to be like, oh yeah, like, you know, what just remembering kind of those basics of exercise physiology and blood chemistry, VO2 Max, like anaerobic threshold versus, you know, aerobic threshold. What are the differences? You know, this is just a nice uh resource. So I've been reading that. And the other one I liked and I found this just listening to another podcast, it's The Practice of Change, the Art and Science of Training by Dan Cleither. I think I'm saying that right. So that's another book I've used. And this is more just like almost, it's not really a training guide. It's just more of a book about like about how training is almost like an how training creating like a training plan is almost like an art. It's not like, oh, you've that's kind of how I view it, anyways. It's not like I just follow this one training methodology or just this one plan. It's kind of like the whole creation of the training plan and how we adapt and how we recover. It isn't always straightforward or linear, and it's so it's kind of taking the art and science of the training and putting it into a book. So it's not there isn't any like training plans or it's just kind of like more diving into how we train and how we adapt and how that is and how that process isn't linear and how kind of the art of it actually. So it's neat. I don't know if I can if I've given that enough credit, but I find that book interesting. I'm still kind of reading through that. And then the other one would be there's one I've been reading currently that I'm finding really interesting on the mental side. Um it's in my audible. So I've been reading How Bad Do You Want It by Matt Fitzgerald. And it's I've actually find that one currently very interesting. It's kind of the mental side of training and how training is just as much mental and and during a race, how what we're kind of telling ourselves about the effort or what we're telling ourselves about what's gonna happen, like if we go into it saying, you know, I'm I I'm not capable of doing this or or am capable, or however you're talking to yourself, that self-talk, and how that might influence the outcome, and that oftentimes, you know, we we're our as athletes, we're kind of sometimes the one holding our ourselves back, like because of that mental side. So it's it's really more the mental side, which I think is hard hard for me, that mental piece of training and and running. And I know for the Vermont City Marathon last May, I wasn't sleeping well. I got so anxious before that race, just worrying about it and worrying about the outcome. And so that's one of the things I really want to change also for this upcoming race is trying to kind of be at peace a little bit more with what the out not worrying so much about the outcome, but just knowing that I'm showing up on race day, having put in the work, you know, not knowing that there's a lot out of my control, like the weather and all, you know, those things that I can't control, and just trying to really like let go of that a little bit. I mean, what's gonna happen is, you know, what is gonna be is gonna what it's gonna be. And just I'm here training, I'm enjoying the process. And as long as I'm not super, super worried about the outcome or get so anxious about the outcome, and just remembering that the reason I'm doing the training every day is because I enjoy it and I enjoy that physical challenge and kind of putting in that work and all the other things that come with training. Um, and just trying not to put so much emphasis on what's gonna happen on race day when I get to grandma's because I don't know, like there's a lot of stuff happening even before I get there in terms of some of the travel and the other things that I have going on that, you know, maybe it, you know, maybe maybe it's just about getting there and seeing if I can complete the distance. And does it matter if I get a certain time or not? And if I don't, what does that mean for the future? Like how much longer am I going to kind of keep pursuing this goal, this sort of arbitrary goal of a certain time that I want to get versus maybe trying a little bit of a different goal and being like at peace with whatever happens, happens. And and that's really hard, I think, for me to not be, oh man, I've got to have this PR, I've got to do this PR in the marathon because you know, that's what I've been trying to pursue for so long. And instead just kind of be like, well, it's gonna happen like it's gonna happen and it's gonna be what it's gonna be. And I put in the work and I'm gonna be the best that I can be on that day and hope it's enough. But if it's not, also being okay with that. And that's a really hard place to be. So I'm working on that mental side of kind of letting go and knowing that I'm putting in the work and letting go of all of the other variables that either I can't control or things that I can control, but can't really, I'm really not sure if that's gonna influence the outcome, I guess. So I I, yeah. So that's kind of where I'm at with that mental side. So I found that book kind of interesting. It's definitely one, and I'm listening to it on Audible, but it's probably one I actually might listen to again as I get closer to the race, just kind of that reminder of, okay, like it's mental. Like if you go into it with sewing, so much anxiety the days before that you're not sleeping, you know, that's that's not good either. So how are we going to go into it and and be kind of more at peace? So yeah, that is so those are my resources. That's a little bit of how I kind of set my training plan. But yeah, I hope that that's helpful. Next time, you know, I'll I'll come back in a couple of weeks. I'll have another update for you. But hope you have or had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day, and I will catch y'all later. Thanks.