Stair-stepping

So, one of the principle tenants of marathon training, or really ANY running program is that you counter "hard" with "easy". For example, hard workouts should be followed by easy runs. And, weeks with increased mileage should be followed by easy weeks -- or leveling-off. I failed to totally incorporate that into the Training Plan.

You see, I was trying to accomplish three things at once (in 12 weeks no less), which is a bit much to bite off. Instead of shooting for PRs at the 5k and 10k, I think we should just shoot for finishing strong and having fun. For the Half Marathon, I believe we ought to revise the goal to be "any time under 2 hrs" and finishing strong. These new goals will allow us to modify the training regimen to accommodate the stair-step approach to weekly mileage.

So what, exactly, am I talking about? Here it is: Instead of increasing mileage each week, we increase by no more than 10% every *other* week. During weeks where we're not making a push, that mileage can drop-off by no more than 10% of the previous amount - unless specifically resting for some reason. This is what I did for my 1st Marathon, and that worked. Why mess with success, right? Here is a link: NEW TRAINING PLAN