The road to York

A few weeks ago I took my first steps on the road to York.  No, I'm not planning to run or walk the 25 miles from my home in South Leeds to York city centre.  The road to York is my training plan for the 2015 Yorkshire Marathon which takes place in York on the 11th October.

Before I had crossed even the start line of the Leeds Half Marathon I already knew the the training for my first full marathon was only a couple of weeks away.  I gave myself a week off, and the luxury of Over the Odda, a brilliant 10k trial race, before my plan started on the 18th May.  I say the 18th of May, the first run of the plan was on Tuesday the 19th with South Leeds Lakers and I was instantly off the plan.  The run that night took us 8k through Middleton Woods and I was only meant to be running 6k, but I guess a longer run is better than a shorter one.

The plan I'm working with is an amalgam of plans I have found on line which I have altered to fit with real life and how I like to run.  I have also taken the liberty to add my own thoughts to the training plan.  The first change was to extend the plan from 16 weeks to 21 weeks.  I could have gone with a 20 week plan but I wanted to add in extra weeks to accommodate the other races that that I have entered between now and October.  This way a 10k race will not get in the way of 16 mile long slow run and I can make sure that I've not run too much in the week before a race.

My race number for Run For All 10k series. Hull, Pennine, Leeds, York.

I'm already on week 3a, the first of the additional weeks.  On Sunday I'll be taking part the Hull 10k and then I'll be getting back to the long miles.  With the extra race days, running groups, and a varied plan of long and short runs, I'm hoping that I can get to York with a spring in my step.  I know quite a few people who have fallen out of love with running due to the miles involved in marathon training and I'm determined not to be one of them. 

The road to York will be long, but it is one that I am relishing running along.