I cannot believe that 12 weeks went by SO fast?!?This was my first ‘training just for the marathon’ marathon cycle in 2 years (I’ve ran 2 marathons since then, PR’d both of the marathons, and trained for ultras during those times). I finally kicked my Plantar Fasciitis this past summer and have not had any aches or niggles since then! This was my first-time creating my own marathon plan and I really think that I found the sweet-spot for training for me. It never felt stale, overwhelming, or boring.

Total Mileage Ran: 486.8 miles

Longest Weekly Mileage: 55 miles

Longest Cross-Training BIke Ride: 10 miles

Average Number of Strength Training Sessions Per Week: 3

Longest Run: 20.2 miles

Races Ran: 1 half marathon at the end of running 7 easy miles (20.2 miles for the day)

Favorite Speed Workout: .75 warm-up, 2 x 2 mile repeats (7:49/ 7:41) with .5 recovery, 800 (7:42), .75 cool down

Proudest Run: Those 3 x 20 milers that I had in my training plan and all of which I negative-split!

Favorite Pump-Up Jam: Downtown by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Race day plan?: You better believe that I have one, but am I going to share it? Nah, probably not ; )

One thing that I grew from the most: Realizing how important sleep and nutrition are and making those a priority for this training cycle