GPS Kids | Jake’s Journal: 12 weeks to train for a marathon? Get serious.

Five weeks ago, while shaking off holiday gluttony, recovering from Vegas’ sensory overload and ramping up for the adrenaline rush of Outdoor Retailer, I got antsy. For the first time since mid-August, my knee wasn’t whining (or at least I wasn’t listening), and I just wanted to run. So I searched the calendar for a marathon, and I searched Runner’s World for a plan to match. That’s how I ended up signing up for the Olathe Marathon, which begins and ends at Garmin’s headquarters on April 10, and printing out “Get Serious: A 12-week Marathon Plan.” (Of course, if I were that serious, I would’ve planned ahead a little better.)

To give you an idea of how serious the plan is, my first week was capped by a “steady long run of 13 miles at 10% slower than marathon pace.” Seriously. And that was the day after getting back from Outdoor Retailer, where I ran with Runner’s World staffers and discussed the merits of the 12-week plan. (“It’s like a 20-week plan that starts with 8 weeks of carbo-loading.”) And technically, it’s two weeks longer than my first marathon plan. Three factors have helped me follow this plan perfectly. 1) Flexibility: With only two key runs prescribed each week, you fit those in when possible and fill in around them as needed. 2) Friendship: With more than a dozen Garmin colleagues willing to step in for a lunch run, I have the perfect group of training partners. 3) Forerunner: By setting the auto lap on my Forerunner 310XT to every half-mile, I can easily track my pace during tempo runs and repeats.

For example, the first week was 3×1.5 miles at tempo with 1/2 mile recoveries. The following week was 2×2 at tempo. This week had us do 3×2 miles, with 1/2 mile before, between and after. At any instant, I can glance down and isolate my pace over the current half-mile, or I can see my distance, heart rate or dozens of other pieces of data. And after each run, whether I’m wearing 310XT outdoors or FR60 inside on the treadmill, I can analyze and share each workout on Garmin Connect.You can follow my training (and share yours if you have a race on the horizon) by following @JakesJournal on Twitter. This past weekend was the only time that I strayed from my schedule. Rather than racing a 5K or 10K, I joined Peg and nearly 30 Garmin colleagues at the Psycho Wyco winter trail run for a 10-mile loop of snow and mud. But that’s a different story all together. We’ll try to keep it clean.

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