Half Marathon Training

It is finally here, and I am not talking about Thanksgiving week. I know that is what this week is, and I plan to get a post done about our Thanksgiving tradition done either on Thanksgiving or the day after.

The week I am referring to is the first week of my half marathon training. Last year, I had a friend message me in the beginning of the year about doing a half marathon with her. I finally decided to sign up and started running. To be completely honest, I really did not train has much as I could and should have. I did manage to do pretty well, especially for my first half marathon. I got a final time of 2:38:14 and I ran (other then walking through water stations) for the first 10 miles. I had to run walk the last 3 to make it through. I live in the midwest, the weather was cold and really windy so I feel I did awesome.

I did not run much after that race until I did a 5K in October before my 10K race the next weekend. What I realized, is that I am more out of running shape then I thought I was. I still workout 6 days a week doing a workout program that has cardio and weights so I thought I was doing well. I know all of that helped me, but I also realized to improve on my time I am going to need to do some focused training.

I have been doing a 100 day workout program, which I had committed to doing completely. So, I found some training guides for half marathons on Pintrest, and decided once I was done with the 100 day program I would start my half marathon training to do during my second round of my 100 day program. Well, I finished the first round on Saturday which means this week is the big start of my training week.

Being the weird planner that I am, I printed out some blank calendar pages and have wrote out every single workout for the next 22 weeks which will bring my to my half marathon date. I will be doing my other program strength training and ab work Monday, Wednesday ans Friday and running  and stretching will be Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Depending on how many miles I have to run on Saturday and the time I have I may do an extra strength workout after my run but I will decided that after my scheduled run. As I mentioned above I live in the midwest so this time of year it is not the best weather to run outside so most of this running time will be on the treadmill. Hopefully I can get through it with watching many movies.

I am both excited and a little nervous about the training. I feel pretty good with having 22 weeks to train, that it will give me some flexibility in my schedule in case I need to move things around I will still be able to stay on track.

Finally doing this!

It has been far to long since I have written a post, to be honest I don’t even remember how long it has been. Why have I not written, its fear! Fear that I don’t have anything to say. Fear of what others think. Fear of jumping around from topic to topic because, I myself haven’t figured out what path I want to take with my writing.

I am coming to realize something, I need to just start. I need to just put words on the paper and create a post 1-2 times a week. I will never be able to find my path until I start. To anyone who takes the time to read this, first I just want to say thank you. Even if I only get one person to read the words I write it will be better then no one. I hope that you dear reader will continue to follow on this journey with me and see where it goes. I am scared and excited to jump in and see where this goes.

Right now I am finishing up my 100 day program that I am doing and loving. My favorite part is the live DJ that plays with the workouts. I am a huge music person so it helps to keep me motivated. I even hung a calendar on my living room wall, which I realized the other night when I get my Christmas tree put up it will cover up lol. After I finish the next 8 workouts I have a new plan. I will begin my training for my 2nd half marathon. I never did get a post done about the first one, but I am very proud of how well I did for my first one and can’t wait to push myself to see how much better I can do with actually training for it.

I ran a 10K a few weeks ago, and I realized I had a lot of work a head of myself. So, I made a promise to myself after that race I would be training harder then I ever have for my next race, which is the half marathon in April. Even if my time is not better, my main goal it to actually train (since I didn’t do much training for my first one) and run the whole thing (came close last year, ran about 9.5 miles with only stopping at water stations which I read many blogs saying do this).

I will be starting my marathon training the week of Thanksgiving. The plan, to do a Second round of my 100 days program just a but modified. I will be running for sure on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays because that is what will work best in my schedule. I will do my strength workouts on Monday and Wednesday for sure, with a possible one on Saturday depending on how my run goes and how my body feels after. Sundays will be  my rest day, my body needs one day to rest and Sundays just work in my schedule.

I have found a few running schedules on Pintrest that I will use as my guide in hopes it helps keep me on track. I also got a book off Amazon to track runs and my race times which I am super excited about. Now, I am just hoping that all this excitement for it continues and it keeps me going during days that I know will be tough and I will not want to train. Living in the mid west, this time of year is cold, crazy cold. Which mean, many hours of inside treadmill running which is definitely not my favorite running. In fact if I am completely honest, I struggle to motivate myself to run on the treadmill so this training will definitely be a mental and physical challenge for me.

If you have read through all of that and made it to this point you are a saint. I will wrap this up for today. As I said my plan is to write or probably more accurate ramble in post 1-2 times a week. I am always looking for new ideas so if you got a topic I should write about please comment on this post or send me a message through the contact link.