T minus 12 weeks...

A lot can happen in twelve weeks... It can be the shortest or the longest period of time depending on your situation. I can imagine for someone waiting to tell their friends/family that they are pregnant, it must feel like an eternity while for the student just finished their Christmas Exams will probably get a land when they find their Summer Exams are starting next week.

The Dublin Marathon is 12 weeks away... I'm hoping in my case it is more like expectant mother as opposed to the partying student. The one thing I have most definitely learned from this past weekend is the importance of preparation. I had prepared for the Clare Burren Half Marathon and was confident going into it while I was definitely a lot more shaky going into yesterdays Rock n Roll Half.

I know the next twelve weeks are going to fly by and the Marathon will be here before I know it. That is why I have a plan! I have been winging my running for the past few months - constantly pushing myself further, for longer, faster. I need a proper training plan suited to my needs for the next few months to get me across the finish line on October 28th. 

Thankfully I found the DCM 2013: Mentored Novices Thread over on boards.ie (link here). The thread is being overlooked by the wonderful career_move who is always on hand to answer and questions us novices may have. I have adapted his 18 week plan (i.e. skipped the first 6 weeks) into my own 12 week plan following his structure and plan for the next while. I've even done up a fancy colourful Timetable:

I'll be updating my progress weekly on here - I'm actually quite excited to get tucked in and push myself from 13.1 miles up to 26.2 by the end of October!