This week the focus is on the long run on Day 7. You should try and run 15 miles or 2.5 hours, whichever comes first. If you're going to skip any of the runs during the week make sure it isn't this one. The long runs are the key to the marathon!. I can't stress how important they are. I'd rather have you run only Day 7, than run all of the other days and skip Day 7.

The only other change this week is the faster day- Day 4. Instead of doing intervals, I'm having you do a tempo run. A tempo run is a run at a much faster pace than your usual jog. On Day 4, I want you to do a warm up and then run at a faster pace for 20 minutes straight. How fast should you run? This should not be a race type effort, but lets say run the 20 minutes at a pace that you feel you could keep up for 45 minutes. It should be hard, but if you're going to err, err on the side of starting too slow. Ideally, during your tempo you will run faster during the second half of the run than the first half. So start somewhat conservatively for the first 10 minutes, and then pick it up a bit the second half. If you're feeling really good, you can run as hard as you want the last minute.

Happy running!

And don't forget to email me any questions you may have at weldonjohnson@letsrun.com.

Day	Training	Total mileage
1	Light cross-training (20 minutes). It is good to do something after a longer run to shakeout the body.	0
2	Easy run of 4.5-5 miles or 45-50 minutes.	4.5
3	Off	0
4	45-50 minutes total. 10 minute warm-up Then do some strides (3-5) to get your body loose for the tempo run. The tempo run should be for 20 minutes continuous. Start conservatively and then pick it up the second 10 minutes. If you're feeling really good you can go 30 minutes, but I'm only expecting 20 minutes since this is your first one. Do a 10 minute cool down.	4-5
5	Optional run (30-45 minutes) or cross train	3-5 optional
6	Off (if you like to run on both days on the weekend, you could move day 5 here). Then, it might be best to only run 20 minutes with 4-6 strides since you should rest up for the long run tomorrow.	optional
7	Long run. 14-15 miles or 2.5 hours. Be sure to drink lots of fluids during the run. How fast should you run, some of you ask?? The pace should be a secondary concern. The point is to run the whole distance, not to try and run any particular pace. Make sure the pace is very comfortable, and one you won't have trouble keeping up for 2.5 hours. I don't expect you to feel comfortable at the end obviously because you're running a long way, but the pace is not a concern of mine, the distance or time on your feet is.	10-11

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