Forgot to log Wednesday!

The training plan for Wednesday had us listed at 25 minutes. We ended up running 30 minutes because Monday's 30 minute run got cut short to 25. It was an ok run. As I mentioned on Daily Mile, I somehow managed to get out the door without changing into my sports bra (my excuse: I had just woken up from a nap). It was pretty miserable. Some women can run comfortably without a sports bra. I am not one of them. I could have stopped, but figured I would lose this run altogether if I went home.

The consequences of not wearing a sports bra were pretty significant. Aside from the pain you might expect, it restricted my breathing and threw my whole posture out of whack. I got pretty grumpy towards my husband as a result, which is very lame and unfair. I'm working on it.  I had some problems on this run with allergies, but my breathing was pretty steady and returned to normal really quickly. I also had some discomfort in my ankles, but my other joints handled the run just fine. 

I definitely got pretty mopey at the end of the run. We weren't going fast enough, we hadn't run far enough, everything was bad, I wasn't made to run, I'd never be a "good" runner, blah blah blah. Matt tried to point out that 5 months ago I would not have been able to run for 30 minutes. He also tried to point out that 5 years ago, I couldn't (and wouldn't) run at all.

Seven years ago, I looked like this

Now, I look more like this

So I should be pretty grateful. I did not respond very well to Matt at first. The good news is that we DID make it all the way to 30 minutes; I've also managed to stay injury free this whole time, which is an awesome awesome accomplishment.

I've been thinking about run/walk ratios for the long run on Saturday (key part of Jeff Galloway's half marathon training plan for new and injury prone runners). This week is 3 miles, which I think I can do with no problem. He recommends a ratio of 3:00-1:00 (run/walk) for the 10 min/mi pace, or 2:00-1:00 for the 12 min/mi pace which I'm more likely to maintain for a whole 13k race. I feel really silly doing that on a "long run" of 3 miles.

I feel like I might be setting myself up for failure if I try to power through all the long runs by running continuously. I might start with the run/walk next week (long run of 4 miles) or the week after (long run of 5 miles). I want to push myself, but I don't want to injure myself or set unrealistic goals.

Anyway, I've got all of today to figure it out. Until next time... keep on truckin', friends.

Half Marathon training: Launch!

Today will mark the first run of the half marathon training schedule from Jeff Galloway. If you're new to the blog, I'm in the process of training for the Tyler Rose Half Marathon. 


I took a break last week to give my body time to recover from the Dallas anime convention (A-kon). I'm glad I made that decision, although I felt pretty restless last week on the days I normally ran.

Today's temperatures are projected at 96F, so we're probably going to wait until well into the evening to do our run. I managed to find a pdf of the Half Marathon course, which starts and ends near my neighborhood. I figure it's not a bad time to start familiarizing myself with the trail.

Here's a run down of this week's running schedule (comparing the original from Jeff Galloway with our modification, to accommodate my karate classes):

Original:

Week	Monday	Tuesday TT	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	off	30 min run	off	25 min run	easy walk	off	3 miles

Modified:

Week	Monday TT	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	30 min run	off	25 min run	off	easy walk	3 miles	off

The "TT" is an optional pace run. I'm not going to worry about that at this point. Today's run, then, is 30 minutes. With my handy map, I'll be able to get a rough estimate of how far we got and how quickly we were going.

I've had some sporadic issues with my joints last week and this one (it's a chronic issue that is exacerbated once a month). I'm expecting a bit of discomfort on today's run, but hopefully no outright pain.

Wish me luck, then!

Week long hiatus

Well, you've probably noticed that I've been awful silent this week. I decided to take the week off before transitioning to the half marathon schedule, as a kind of reset for my body.

Last week's runs (three days in a row) wore me down pretty good. I followed that up by attending a 3 day nerdy convention in Dallas, which involved walking the mile to and from the convention center multiple times a day and climbing lots of flights of stairs. Saturday night of the convention, I started experiencing a really scary knee pain. It seems to be mostly fine now. I've got quite a bit of overall fatigue which may be a product of something icky I picked up at the convention.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying some rest and trying to stretch a lot. I've had to sacrifice the $10 I would've "earned" this week, but I feel like I made the right decision. Next week jumps into the Jeff Galloway Half Marathon training program. Wish me luck!


P.S. Some pictures of me from the convention. I told you it was nerdy.

 

The Plan

Well, it’s time to commit… to a training program! Yay. I have 21 weeks until the race, so I set out looking for something which started out at an attainable base mileage (8-10) and progressed gradually (12+ weeks). Because I’m kind of injury prone, I wanted a training schedule which allowed for plenty of rest time and cross training. I am running for completion, not time, so I wanted to find a schedule which would prepare me without overwhelming me. For the month of May, I will be finishing up the last few weeks of coolrunning.com’s “Couch to 5k” program. I’ll be starting the half marathon training in June. Here are the training schedules I evaluated, in descending order of preference:

• http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/half_marathon.html

19 weeks (17 leading up to race, 2 after). Base of 8.5 miles plus “easy walk” of indeterminate length. Three rest days and an easy walk incorporated weekly. Runs during the week are about 3 miles each with a long run every other weekend. Longest run is 14 miles, tapers down to 5.
• http://www.fitsugar.com/half-marathon-training-schedule-beginners-2845222
12 weeks. Base of 9.5 miles, escalates up to 25, tapers to 14.5 before the race. Rest days vary, 2-3 (with or without cross training). Long run varies from 3-12 miles, tapers down to 5. Every week ends with an easy run.

• http://running.about.com/od/halfmarathonracetraining/a/runwalkhalfmarathon.htm

12 weeks. Base of 9.5 miles, escalates up to 23, tapers to 10.5 before the race. Includes 2 days for rest, one for cross training. Long runs are 3-12 miles, tapers down to 5. Week ends with recovery walk (2-3 miles).

• http://www.marathonrookie.com/half-marathon-training.html

10 weeks. Base 13 miles, escalates up to 26, tapers to 22. 3 rest days per week. Long run from 4-12 miles, tapers to 8.

• http://www.halfmarathons.net/training_tips_schedule_beginner_runners.html

12 weeks. Base of 16 miles base, escalates up to 29, tapers down to 22. Two rest days. Long run varies from 4-12, tapers to 6.

 

So the final contestants are: Jeff Galloway and Fit Sugar. The upside of Jeff Galloway’s plan is that it perfectly fits my timeline (I will have 17 weeks from the conclusion of the Couch to 5k program till the race); the downside is that it can be really confusing with its long runs every other week. Another plus for the Galloway plan is that it allows for the most rest time and cross training, which will help keep me from getting even though I might intellectually prefer a more rigorous schedule. The schedule also incorporates Galloway’s “Magic Mile” (a pacing technique).

I appreciate Jeff Galloway’s contributions to Runner’s World, and I know he’s guided a lot of beginning/slow/injury prone runners to success. With that in mind, the winner is Jeff Galloway! (Yaaaay)

Feel free to leave me a comment about your experiences training for a half. I’d love the encouragement!