It’s almost hard to believe that I’m a month into this year’s marathon training but that is where I am and thankfully still in one piece.

I’ve only had one panic attack since starting this new training plan which is a huge improvement to the ones I was getting every other day before I started training.

My biggest worry has been the change in schedule of training runs. On my old novice plan, I always had a rest day before the long run. On the intermediate plan, I’ve got a shorter run scheduled the day before the long run. Most weeks, this shorter run will be approximately half the distance of the long run with exception being the weekends of the two 20 mile long runs. That run will only be five miles.

I’m constantly going back and forth and wondering if my legs will be able to handle that type of mileage on the weekends. I mostly worry about this during the actual long run and that’s probably not a good thing. But so far it has been ok. Yesterday’s long run was the first double digit long run of 11 miles. I felt pretty good for most of it, but because I don’t always plan my routes out well the last three miles were almost all uphill.

My view near W. 72nd where I stretch post long run. How can you not love this city!?!

This weekend I plan to hit my beloved Hudson Greenway to take out some of the guess work. While it is a mostly flat route it will put back into a slight comfort zone of being able to compare my pace with previous years.

Plus, well, it goes along the Hudson River and depending on my mood I can either head downtown or uptown and just forget about the number of miles I actually have to run. It really does make these long runs bearable.

The practical aspect are the numerous water fountains and Gatorade/Power Aid vending machines. Note: Always bring quarters for these machines because the only that takes credit cards is the on by Chelsea Piers. Additional Note: Yes, I have actually purchased Power Aid from a vending machine with my credit card. No biggie or shame involved.

So far the weekly runs have been stress free. Due to my schedule I’m not able to block out enough time to handle that mid-week longer run so I have been doing a double on that day. My usual 5:00 am run and then the additional miles plus one at the gym during lunch. The plus one mile on the second run has been recommended by a few running coaches I know. At the start of the I was worried how my legs would feel the next morning with less than a 24 hour recovery but so far so good. I just have to remember that these workouts won’t be speedy.

The cross training and strength training have been hit and miss. I know I need to do these and but don’t have a solid plan or someone to push me. That is why I was looking for a personal trainer but we all know how that worked out. I’m glad I did give up the search if only so that I didn’t carry that stress into the marathon training.

I have been doing a few exercises that I have found on Runner’s World and then I found this workout that the Today Show’s Jenna Wolfe and Natalie Morales did. It’s a great workout that does work a ton of muscles, great for the runners who need to remember we have muscles besides in our legs. I did it this morning and it kicked my ass. I am going to try and keep it up and get closer to completing it in 10 minutes. It took me 20 minutes.

The next month will bring those real long runs and then I’ll be able to start gauging where  I am in terms of meeting my time goal for the marathon.

Yikes, Marathon Sunday will be here before we know it!