Ladies and Gentlemen...

For the last few months I've been adrift... floating around in a sea of training with no clear goals and no clear plan. I've pretty much been running when I feel like it, taking the day off if I don't, and picking my daily workouts and plans on a whim. The freedom has been a nice reprieve from the rigors of marathon training and I feel like I did a decent job of building my base, maintaining fitness, and healing up...

...However, with race season quickly approaching its time to focus! Its time for a plan!

So yesterday afternoon I spend some time surfing the net and blogosphere for training ideas and after hours of research and deep thinking decided to put together my very own “Grid” (big-ups to the Running Laminator for the spreadsheet format).

So without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen let me introduce you to... "My Grid" (and "My Grid Jr.")





My Grid is comprised of a 22 week training plan that will take me from May 10th all the way to the Chicago Marathon... The Grid Jr. is a 10 week preconditioning plan to help me build up my mileage and prepare me for the Illini Half-Marathon.

Also, way to early to know for sure but my tenative time goal for Chicago is currently 3:20:00. That'll require slightly faster than 7:40ish pace... not sure if that's too lofty but that's what I'm doing for now. Pre-training begins in less than two weeks!