Half Marathon by May 1st Challenge -- Week 2

bjshields

You know that old saying, "The road to hell is paved with the best of intentions"? Well, welcome to Half Marathon Training, Week 2, campers.

I'm sure somewhere deep inside me (like between my navel and my ribs, say?) is a real, honest-to-goodness RUNNER who wants to come out and just GO! However, I am finding that I cannot run every single day, and I get distracted by other things. This is pretty much how I do things anyway, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I am doing things other than staying on a program. Here's what I mean.

I have a neighbor, Tammy, who is my Real Housewives Tuesday Night Buddy. We watch Real Housewives (DVR'd) on Tuesdays at 8, drink wine, snack on something, and hang out. This was really working well.

Until . . . Tammy & I started talking about weight. She is also overweight and actually hasn't worked out in two years, so she's starting at a less fit place than I am. So I decide to tell her about "Mommy Boot Camp," which is what Mary Ann, my best friend, and I did about 10 years ago when we decided to get into butt-kicking shape. Mommy Boot Camp consists of any kind of intervals you can think of. Yesterday, we went to the local middle school basketball court, where we ran down the court, took a shot, ran back, took a shot, 10 times; then we ran down the track twice, then walked twice; then we did 50 jumping jacks and took a lap running. We did this for about 40 minutes; 10 minutes was the walk there, and 10 minutes back, so we did a full hour. Oh, and I forgot to mention, all of this in the freezing teens and dark except for the school lights.

I've decided to commit to doing this program Mon-Wed-Fri for four weeks with Tammy. I'm hoping that all of the running we're doing will help me get faster and better at running, but really, it's what got me down to a size 7, 138 lbs 10 years ago. It worked.

So, my question is, what are YOU doing to train for your half marathon? Do you have to run consistently in order to do it? All the programs I've seen stress walking & running. I guess technically, I'm running a lot, but it's in short spurts. Do I HAVE to get up to a solid run for a period of time? I don't know. I figure after four weeks of this, I'll be ready to clock myself and see how far I can go. Hopefully, it will be farther than now (which is like 10 minutes at a time, if I put my mind to it).

On the happy side, I've lost 2 more lbs, for a grand total of 9! Woo-hoo! That was as of this morning, but it has been the day from hell already, and it's not even 4 o'clock yet. Tammy will be over at 8 for snackage, drinks and hanging out time. I think maybe we'll watch Biggest Loser instead. We are supposed to get a blizzard tonight, so we'll probably be doing the treadmill, elliptical trainer and weights at my house tomorrow. We'll see.

I'd love to hear how anybody else's training is going and what you're doing. I'll be back next Tuesday, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

Have a great, healthy week!

YogaRunner

I love this, Beth! You are too funny! We have to talk more. I hope the snow doesn't cancel our run together tomorrow!
Anyhow, I do interval training too, by DVD, at home, next to my fireplace and my dog snoring away :grumble: It has helped me get faster and makes my regular runs easier. Though this morning it was so cold out, I had a hard time breathing the cold air.
I highly recommend you take a look at www.jeffgalloway.com and anything he has ever written about training for half and full marathons (I may have mentioned this to you). The run/walk method he uses is extremely effective.
Hope to see you tomorrow!
Risa

bjshields

Hey, Risa! I hope we get to, too, but I'm just thinkin' . . . with three kids at home tomorrow, I might be willing to run TO you rather than with you! We'll see! I'll email you in the morning.

yrflores

Congratulations on deciding to do a Half! I, too, recommend Jeff Galloway's site. When I decided to run my first half, that's where I went. The funny thing is that I started out trying to walk/run, and as I was training, I started running more and more. I ended up running the entire way for my first Half, and I've never looked back.

I'm currently training for my 5th Half. It comes up at the end of this month and the holidays have taken their toll. I'm really hoping that I can get some of the chub off so that I can squeeze into my running skirt and not look like I'm actually squeezed into my running skirt.:laugh:

For a training plan, I like to go to Runner's World and use their free Smart Coach. I've used it for all of my Halfs, and I always cross the finish line with a smile on my face, so I think it works pretty well. Hal Higdon's website also has good plans.

The best advice that I can give is don't skip the weekly long runs and remember that the goal is to finish. It's all about endurance. It won't kill you to miss one 5-miler during the week, but if you miss the 10-miler on the weekend, you'll be kicking yourself the next week when you're supposed to do 11.

bjshields

Did you say TEN MILES?! Yikes, I need to sit down!