With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

What training program are you using? That does seem strange to me that it would have you run twice as long on Saturday as you ran the rest of the week. Of course, I'm kind of partial to high mileage programs.

I'm glad the wild bunny didn't get you. I had something dart across the path in front of me this morning and it startled me, but it was probably also a bunny because it was too small to be a fox or a coyote, and those three animals are about all we have around here. Oh, and prairie dogs, but they're little. But come to think of it, I haven't seen any prairie dogs lately. Maybe the coyotes got them all.

Carolyn,

You are living in the wild frontier with all of those varmints!

A friend who is running the marathon with me went to runner's world online and used one of their programs to set up our running plan. Maybe it's got a low # of days to run because that's what she told the program she wanted. But that still doesn't explain the low # of miles. I had heard that a runner should be running 2x as far during the week than they run on their long run. So in my head I'm thinking I should be running 32 miles m-f before I hit Saturday.

Do I go with the program, or try and bump it up a little throughout the week? I don't want to over train and injure myself, but I think I need more to prep for the long runs.

Nice run, glad it all felt good - even with NO mp3 player AND with the wild animal attack, thank goodness for magic headlamps! :)

Okay, about the training plan I would check out some others online. McMillan running is a good one, and just google Marathon training plans - I found TONS. Then choose one that looks good for you, I'm not sure about doubling your long run mileage, seems too much too fast. Remember, you only want to increase your mileage by 10-15% per week in order to avoid injury. That would be 48 miles this week. I topped out at just below 60 I think when I was training. Anyway, I'd just look for different programs and find one you like and that would work with your schedule. Only 8 this week then 16 Saturday does seem VERY odd.

I'd definitely keep your x-training though! It will also help keep injuries away.

I actually live in a well-developed suburb, but it's the furthest south suburb of Denver before you hit open space. And they've got all these open space/green belts running through the area. That's why we have so many wild animals.

How far away is your marathon? If you switch to a different training plan (which I recommend; I'm not big on RW training plans), don't make a sudden increase in your mileage. Like Rachel said, increase slowly. In fact, you probably shouldn't increase by 10-15% every week. Increase by that amount one week, stick with that week's mileage for a couple of weeks and then up it again. When I was training for my marathon, I topped out around 60 miles/week.

It looks like you are doing a variation of the FIRST training program, where they advocate running 3-4 times a week and then cross training on the days that you are not running. But the 2 miles and then 6 miles seems awfully little if you're running a 16 miler.

If it isn't working for you, I third RAD and Carolyn. Find another program that makes you feel comfortable. Just up your mileage slowly to ward away the injury demons.

Tracy,

Thanks for the feedback. I thought the mileage seemed too little. Adding 15% a week just seems like it's so little. I know you're right about going slowly. I've done the too much too soon = injury route before.

I just want to be ready the best I can for the marathon in Nov.

QP