training schedule

Training for injury-free running, please.

Miscellaneous

Well, it has begun.

Real training season is among us. After taking an almost two month hiatus (I ran four times from Thanksgiving to January 20 – don’t judge me), I’m finally back and in it to win it. I was supposed to start my training last week, but my car was in the shop so I was sharing a car with the fiancé, and adding gym time into the mix would have been complicated. It’s an excuse I know, but that’s my reason – BUT this week is the real deal. No more hibernating at home and telling myself that I will start soon. I checked into the gym on Foursquare Monday morning and I was greeted by a message that said I hadn’t been to the gym in two months. I laughed out loud, but felt super terrible about myself. Naturally I decided to snap a picture of it for my own embarrassment. I also used my new Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor Watch for the second time ever. Let me just tell you how awesome it is – it’s awesome.


This week makes 17 weeks to the Cleveland Half Marathon. I am aiming for running a 2:10 or faster. I ran the half distance during the full in 2:10 so I know it’s possible. Granted I was in fabulous shape in September, but I know now that my body is at least capable of it.

Monday I ran 3.5 at a sloooooww pace. Embarrassingly slow actually. I was dying. Holy out of shape! I kept wanting to turn to the people around me and scream “I know I’m pathetic right now, but I SWEAR I ran a full marathon a few months ago!” I was upset with my time and myself, but I keep trying to remind myself that it’s going to take a few weeks to get back into the swing of things. I didn’t work up to running 26.2 miles overnight, so returning won’t be the same either. I also have to remind myself that I suffered injuries last year, so this training and race season might not necessarily be the same. Running religiously and slowly building up miles is my best bet against injury this time around. I’ve got 17 weeks, which is a good time-frame for a training schedule. I know if I follow it and work hard I will be ready. It’s just hard to mentally handle not being able to run 4 miles when I’ve ran a marathon before, but that’s no one else’s fault but my own so I just have to suck it up.

Yesterday morning I woke up sore all over and with a bad foot/ankle pain. It’s weird that I didn’t feel the injury Monday during the day after the run. Regardless of the pain, I ran another 3.5 today and was careful to stretch the area first, although I’m not sure it helped. I also started feeling the “marathon knee pain” in my right knee towards the end of today’s run. If you know anything about me, you’ll know that I had terrible knee pain during my first full last fall. This was the first time I had ever experienced ANY type of knee pain in my life (even after being a softball catcher for 10 years). My friend, Nicole, warned me “Once you run a marathon, your body is never the same.”

Around two miles today I decided I’d better take it easy. My knee was really bothering me and my foot/ankle injury was getting worse with each step. People always say “listen to your body” which I rarely ever do, but today I slowed down the treadmill and opted for an incline instead. It was much easier on my knee and ankle and I was actually proud of myself for acting like a responsible, smart runner. I can’t help but worry about my injuries though, especially after today’s run and that same familiar ache in my knee flaring up. I’m nervous about the way my joints are reacting to running again, considering this is run #2 out of about 75. I’m hoping that my body is just sore and thrown off and that in a week or two I’ll feel fine and will be starting to gain strength.

I used my Polar watch again today and loved it. It’s motivating to not only see the calories that you’ve burned adding up, but you see that you burn calories lifting weights too. My only question though, does it count past 1,000 calories? I’d really like to see that for long runs and I’ll be super bummed if it doesn’t.


I often look for good training schedules and modify a little as needed. I’m not sure where exactly I got this one from or what parts I’ve modified, but this is the schedule I followed for last year’s half and the one I’m currently following.

What training schedules do you guys follow and how many weeks do you train?

Half Marathon Training

Week 1
2-3, 2-3, 4

Week 2
2-3, 3-4, 5

Week 3
2-3, 3-4, 6

Week 4
3, 4-5, 7

Week 5
3-4, 4-5, 8

Week 6
4-5, 4-5, 9

Week 7
2-3, 4, 3-4, 10

Week 8
2,3, 5, 3-4, 11

Week 9
3, 5, 3-6 *tune up race Saturday or Sunday (like a 10K or 15K)

Week 10
3, 5, 4-5, 12

Week 11
3-4, 5, 4-5, 13

Week 12
4, 5, 4-5, 14

Week 13
4, 5, 6-10 *tune up race Saturday or Sunday (like a 10K or 15K)

Week 14
4, 5-6, 4-5, 15

Week 15
4, 5, 4-5, 12

Week 16
4, 4, 4, 8-9

Week 17
4, 4, 4, 6-7

Week 18
3, 3, RACE


Keep Running!

Death by Lack of Motivation…and NE Ohio Winters.

Miscellaneous

Ugh. I have not been feeling running lately. Does anyone else ever get like this? I love running, usually. But these past two weeks I have been burnt out both mentally and physically when it comes to running.

I got to week 10 of 18 of my training schedule for my half marathon and suddenly hit a wall. I have not ran in TWO weeks to the day today. Eeeek. Of course I’ve continued cross training with spinning classes and elliptical sessions, even a few cross country skiing workouts, but for real…14 days since my last run?!

Cross Country Skiing Workout

Cross Country Skiing Workout

But the truth is that I just cannot get myself back out there to run. On week nine I ran 11 miles in 21 degree weather. It was awful by every definition. At one point during the 11 miles I think I started crying, but it could have been the sleeting snow whipping at my face for over two hours. The following weekend I set out to do 12 miles (it was about 40 degrees) and then my watch decided to stop working without me knowing, so I had no idea how far I actually ran. At that point I was so annoyed I kind of just threw in the towel right then and there. Then the following weekend was filled with non-stop St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and the next weekend we got four inches of snow and ice in wonderful Chardon, Ohio. With my moral and spirits sinking, I didn’t even put up a fight to skipping my long weekend runs the past two weeks. Of course I felt guilty, but deep down I was kinda relieved.

Even today at 37 degrees, I wanted to get out there and go for a quick four miles, however here I am blogging and finding every other excuse on the planet not to go. Then I beat myself up over it when I don’t run and just settle for spinning instead. And at this point setting foot on a treadmill at the gym makes me want to die.

Hmm...not so much lately.

Hmm…not so much lately.

Is this battle going on with any other runners? What do you do when you’ve just lost it? I cannot even get myself to run four miles, let alone 13. I went strong for ten weeks and now I cannot find that same inspiration and motivation to save my life!

I think the snow and the cold weather have a lot to do with it. I’ve been hanging out at the gym since November and I’m starting to get cabin fever. I need fresh air, sun, pavement, shorts and any weather over 60 degrees would be fabulous.

What is everyone’s secret to keeping inspiration and motivation alive? How do you not give up on your dreams or goals even when you are burnt out and tired?

I’ll leave you with this picture. I seriously laughed out loud when I saw it on Pinterest yesterday.

Seriously LOL

Seriously LOL

New year, first half. Literately.

Miscellaneous

January 1st is such a motivating day. I love the fresh start to a new year and the excited buzz around it. I’ve always been a sucker for New Year’s resolutions, too. I think I love the promise of trying to better yourself, making a change, doing something different. (This love for resolutions probably has something to do with the fact that I love Mondays too.) *Pause for astonishment here* I can’t help it, I just love a fresh new start and reinventing yourself.

For the past few weeks or so I’ve been thinking about my intentions for 2013. Now I’ve been working out about four days a week and I feel good. I feel strong both physically and mentally. I’ve always thrown around the idea in my head about the Cleveland Marathon. Now I’m no where near marathon ready, but they also offer a 5K, 10K and half.

I’ve ran five 5Ks, which are always a fun little workout, but in my book it’s just not that big of an accomplishment anymore. After a while I have begun to expect more out of myself. So I threw around the 10K idea. Hmm 6.2 seems legit. The most I’ve ever ran at one time was eight miles, which was during the peek of a really good summer of running two years ago. (I had also just broken up with a really terrible, very bad, no-good guy though, so that fueled a lot of my fire!) So to prove a point to myself, and to basically just be a smart ass, I ran almost 6.5 miles at the gym last week.

workout6Not so smart on my body, but it did a wonder on my head. I was so ecstatic and thrilled at the end of my workout that for a brief moment I had tears in my eyes. It was truly so, so, SO tough. But I wanted to prove to myself that if I could whip out a 10K distance out of no where, than it wouldn’t be that hard on race day….and so, I would HAVE to sign up for the half marathon if I wanted to challenge myself.

So with Christmas money burning a whole in my pocket, I signed up for my first half marathon on May 19th in downtown Cleveland.

regishalfI am a combination of terrified, excited, nervous, worried and thrilled. I have wanted to be a part of a marathon for as long as I can remember, and finally I am making this happen! No more “maybe someday” or “well I’ve always wanted to but…” excuses. My cool $70. 68 will also add as a little reminder that it’s a done deal! And what’s even more exciting, I’ve talked the boyfriend into running it with me! He still has yet to register, but he’s the kinda swell guy that would pretty much do anything I ask him to do. *Pause for eye roll*

I’ve been researching like crazy the past few days. Training schedules, tips, anything. I’ve decided on this 18-week schedule that I found on the marathon’s home page, which puts me for the week of January 13th to get this baby started.

So what do I need to know? What are the best half marathon/training tips? How do you guys stay motivated? What do you do to train/get ready for a half? Any and all advice is welcome!