The training schedule

Since I was given the go ahead to run it has been a slow go. My leg has yet to feel 100% pain free when I am running. It concerns me. However, it feels better after I run about a mile. When I am at home, I don't have real problems with it. Sometimes, I feel a pull or a twinge in BOTH legs but that is about it. I try to ice it after each run and I do stretches after I run. Before I start my run I have a routine. Wake up at 6:00 AM, eat a nutrigrain bar, drink water, pop a Zyrtec and two ibuprofen. This is the one constant so far in my morning. I have started to walk down the stairs instead of taking the elevator to help my legs and feet warm up. So far, so good but I really don't know how much that is helping. I am afraid of stretching before I run because I really do attribute most of my first injury to my stretching. So, I am at a loss as to what I should do to loosen up my soleus muscle so that first mile isn't so difficult. I also have found that since I started running outside and not on the treadmill, I have slowed in my pace. I used to run 6.5 miles in 1 hour. Now I am down to a 10 minute mile or 5.75 to 6 miles an hour. What that means in the larger picture is that *if* I can run the race with a constant speed pace I could have finished the marathon in approx. 4 hours 10 minutes or so. Now, I can run it at 4 hours 30 minutes or so. And when running that distance every minute matters. I hope that this training schedule that I have fallen upon works wonders for me.

I found online and a few people recommended it to me, Hal Higdon's novice marathon running training schedule. It is basically a schedule starting 18 weeks out. He basically sets the schedule at resting on Monday and Friday, short runs on Tues, Wed, Thursday and your LONG run on Saturdays, while you cross train on Sundays. This works out PERFECT for me. Since I signed up for the marathon, I took a part time job at night(6pm-10pm) Sunday-Thursdays from home. So, running at night is not an option at all any more. So, I must wake up at 6:00 to prepare and get myself out for my morning runs before Greg goes to work. So far, this has worked well. And since it is summer, I am able to get out there before it is too ungodly hot. For my long runs on weekends, Greg can watch the kids while I commit to an hour or more for my long runs. So here is the schedule:
Week 1 ~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 3 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 6 miles
Week 2 ~ Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 3 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 7miles
Week 3~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 4 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 5 miles
Week 4~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 4 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 9 miles
Week 5~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 5 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 10 miles
Week 6~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 5 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 7 miles
Week 7~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 6 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 12 miles
Week 8~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 6 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 13 miles
Week 9~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 7 miles ~ Thursday 4 miles ~ Saturday 10 miles
Week 10~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 7 miles ~ Thursday 4 miles ~ Saturday 15 miles
Week 11~Tuesday 4 miles ~ Wednesday 8 miles ~ Thursday 4 miles ~ Saturday 16 miles
Week 12~Tuesday 4 miles ~ Wednesday 8 miles ~ Thursday 5 miles ~ Saturday 12 miles
Week 13~Tuesday 4 miles ~ Wednesday 9 miles ~ Thursday 5 miles ~ Saturday 18 miles
Week 14~Tuesday 5 miles ~ Wednesday 9 miles ~ Thursday 5 miles ~ Saturday 14 miles
Week 15~Tuesday 5 miles ~ Wednesday 10 miles ~ Thursday 5 miles ~ Saturday 20 miles
Week 16~Tuesday 5 miles ~ Wednesday 8 miles ~ Thursday 4 miles ~ Saturday 12 miles
Week 17~Tuesday 4 miles ~ Wednesday 6 miles ~ Thursday 3 miles ~ Saturday 8 miles
Week 18~Tuesday 3 miles ~ Wednesday 4 miles ~ Thursday 2 miles ~ Saturday 0 miles SUNDAY RACE!

Last weekend was my 9 mile run and we were in LaCrosse, Wisconsin for that. We ran the Great River Trail and it was awesome, perfect and beautiful. I was concerned about mosquito's and the humidity because they have been dealing with a lot of rain lately. I didn't need to worry because there was minimal gnats and no mosquito's as I ran. OH! And I had a running partner. Greg ran with me. It was nice to run with him. I have been training by myself and he has been doing his own training by running home from work. He was really impressed that I could run the 9 miles without stopping. I was also impressed that I was able to do it. He is 6'4" and I am only 5'7" so his stride is a bit longer then mine and he used to be a runner. We ran the 9 miles in 1 hour and 35 minutes. We had a 12 minute mile in the mix when we ran up a bridge with no shade and the sun beating down on us. I coined it the bridge of death. We survived and I was thrilled that we ran together. The only injury from my first real long run... chafing. Let's just say I will not be wearing those shorts again on a long run. I will have to go out and buy myself some body glide. I guess many runners swear by it. I will NOT go another long run without that, that is for sure.

So, there it is. My training schedule. So far so good and I have not missed one day yet. *knock on wood*