Half Marathon – Training

This page will be dedicated to my journey as I get my body and mind ready for another 13.1 mile run. I have a pretty hefty goal in mind and I hope to achieve that goal with proper nutrition, training and strengthening of my body.

Feast your eyes on this short 12 week training program. Should I make tweaks, or does this look good? Kind of a rhetorical question I guess, unless someone wants to offer some advice.

Week One went very well. I am hoping to maintain a 10 minute mile for the duration of the 13.1 miles. The problem with me is that anything less than 6 miles, I tend to push it and run a bit faster than the 10 minute mile I should be pacing myself at. I will be throwing in tempo runs, intervals, negative splits, etc. as the mileage increases to help with the pace. So maybe I will see a difference there. We shall see.

Week Two is done and I am feeling pretty good so far. I have done this before…meaning – I have run 13.1 miles before but my pace for each of those times was pretty moderate compared to what I hope to reach this time. We shall see what happens. For now, I will keep plugging away.

Week Three was pretty cool. LaBrett has decided to train with me. And the way she is keeping me on track with pace is by riding along side me on her bicycle. She is good about keeping me updated on my time and good about offering encouragement. Keeps me focused on my breathing and finishing each run strong.

Week Four didn’t start off to great. Had a horrible migraine that had me curled up in a dark room with a pillow over my head to muffle any noise. Needless to say, that migraine kept me down all day and I was not able to get out and run. Good thing is that I was back to normal on Tuesday and continued with my training for the week. The lifting went well and the runs on the Wednesday and Saturday went just as well. I have been maintaining my goal pace and am very pleased with how I feel afterwards too. So far, these past 4 weeks have been a good 4 weeks.

Week Five was a good week in spite of missing Wednesdays run due to staying late at work. I still managed to get my long run in on Saturday night. Long run being 6 miles…if you consider that long! But if you have done any amount of training for an endurance event, you know that long mileage slowly increases as the weeks go on. Overall, I felt pretty good this week. No pain, no serious issues, no nagging doubts of my abilities. I just feel g o o d.

Week Six started off good and ended pretty good. I am actually pretty surprised that I have been able to maintain a 10 minute mile for the duration of my longer runs. I went into this training knowing that my goal was pretty aggressive. Just seeing the end result after each run makes me happy. And having LaBrett there to encourage me and help me maintain has been wonderful. At first I was concerned because having someone help me keep pace during the training but not be there during the event could potentially be a hindrance. BUT, I learned that the event coordinators have pace groups for people like me that need and want them. Whew! So…keep on riding beside me, LaBrett!

Week Seven was a bit of a challenge. Work was extremely busy and kept me late at the office on several days. I was only able to get one lifting session in and 2 runs during the week. But, by the time the weekend rolled around, it started perfect and ended perfect. Saturday was a 5K event in which I probably should have just ran my half marathon pace, but a fellow runner was hoping to achieve a goal and I offered to run with her to help her reach that goal. So…the half marathon pace of a 10 minute mile kinda went out the window! It was my choice though. And in the end, she met her goal, beat her goal, blew her goal out of the water. You get the idea! It was great to see her face when she saw we ran an average 8:47 minute mile. On top of that, we both placed 2nd in our group. Pretty fun. Anyhow, the long run at this stage of the training is more important. Let me just say, todays run was complete in 1:18:14. It was an 8 mile run and if you do that math, you can quickly guess that the average was below 10 minute mile. Happy Day!

Week Eight brought on some challenges, mostly mental. This weekends long run was 9 miles and I was convinced that I was not going to be able to maintain. Stupid mind games. Some days I can shake it and some days I can’t. At any rate, this 9 mile run was one where I constantly heard, “better back off a bit or else you are going to bonk at the end.” For whatever reason, I kept speeding up and had a hard time maintaining my goal pace. Obviously, finishing my 9 mile run a bit faster is not necessarily a bad thing. But the idea is to know what my goal pace feels like and if I can’t feel it after 8 weeks of training and I am starting off too fast (especially the day of the event), then I am sure to bonk during the half. I certainly don’t want that to happen. Duh, right! Anyhow, I have just a short time left to really feel what this goal pace SHOULD feel like. You would think after 3+ years of running that this would be no problem for me. Again, stupid mind games.

Week Nine is actually written at the end of week 10 and I cannot really remember how I felt at the end of week 9. All I know is that I have been able to maintain goal pace. Of course, that is important and the whole reason I have been training. So…on to week 10 wrap up.

Week Ten ended with a bit of frustration until I realized that I am still doing “okay”. Let’s just say that towards the end of my 11 mile run on Saturday, I had to take a walking break to bring my ridiculously high heart rate down. For whatever reason, my heart was beating so fast that I could feel it in my ears and it felt like it was pounding on my chest, trying to break free. I took that as a sign to walk for a minute and catch my breath. So, I did. There is no shame in walking. After all, this training. Not to mention, I completed my 11 miles in 1:50:05. If I can keep that pace for another 2 miles, I will meet my goal and that makes me smile B I G.

Side note: I finally got registered for the half marathon when I realized that it was only 2 weeks away and capacity was at 88%. Hard to believe that it is just 2 weeks away.

Week Eleven was a pretty fantastic week. The weight lifting and cross training was business as usual. No injuries to report but I would not expect there to be. I am pretty smart when it comes to lifting weights. Good form, spotter when I need it, etc. As for the running part…it went very well. I got out and ran my 12 miles last Saturday. In spite of the cold and wind, I made a pretty decent time. My avg pace was 9:48. If I can keep that up, I will make my goal. And that is pretty much all I have been talking about for these past 11 weeks…goal goal goal.

Week Twelve is here and is dang near over! It was a taper off week for me. I rode my bike a couple of times, did some light weight lifting and ran only 2 and 3 miles. Today, I will stretch and just keep things loose and ready for tomorrow. Because tomorrow is the big day. Run The Rock W I L L happen…in the 30 degree temps and rain! This should be super fun. (insert sarcasm here!) I am going to channel my frustration into motivation and use the crappy weather as motivation to run faster to get out of the cold!

Good luck to all the White Rock Runners tomorrow.

December 4th – the results are in…

Distance HALF MARATHON
Clock Time 2:21:30
Chip Time 2:07:33
Overall Place: 3452 / 9650
Gender Place: 1383 / 5607
Division Place: 269 / 980
Tot Div: 9650
Tot Gend: 5607
Tot Ag: 980
5K Rank: 3387
5K Time: 29:48
10K Rank: 3488
10K Time: 59:55
15K Rank: 3317
15K Time: 1:30:42
Finish Rank: 3454
Finish Time: 2:07:33
Total Pace: 9:44/M

It was cold (33 degrees) and it rained for 11 of the 13 miles. But…I did it, along with the other thousands of runners. We are all crazy I guess! The stuff I shared above may or may not be official as far as the rankings. I am not 100% sure if they have all of the times recorded just yet. The one thing I do know that will not change is my time. I set out to finish this half marathon in 2:10 and I finished in 2:07:33. I was a little surprised to say the least. As you know from my weekly training summary, there were some doubts that I could even finish in my goal time. But I did it! And now as I sit here typing this out, I am wondering what is next?! I have trained hard. The event has come and gone with fantastic results…so now what?! Seriously now? How sad am I to already be thinking of the next big event? Oh well. That is just how I am wired I suppose.

There is one thing I have to add. LaBrett and Gene, you guys are awesome. The fact that you gave up your Sunday morning to head to Dallas in the rain and the cold to support me means so much. And Hunter, my husband and driver (!), you are a fabulous support system. You have said I am crazy for running these distances and running this event in less than desirable weather conditions. But you never once tried to hold me back. Thank you and I love you.

Congrats to all the finishers and the incredibly awesome full marathoner that passed me at mile 12. I was in the presence of greatness for the short time that he was around!

*Keep Moving