10 Things I Wish I'd Known About Half Marathons & Training

Hey yos! I wanted to share some things I learned about training for a half, since this has come up several times and might save you a little pain/effort/etc. They're in no particular order:

1. Half marathons are ridiculously awesome. If you're hesitating on signing up, sign up with a resounding YES! You can do it! And if you're like me you'll be crazy glad you did, even if it sounded nutso when you were signing up.

2. Training for the run is important - it's mostly for the mind game of knowing you can do it (and you can). There's a switch that flipped for me around 6-7 miles where I finally knew I could run long distances. Run a long run each week, increasing by 1 mile each week.

3. Core training/stretching is really important for injury prevention, especially for your knees. Do squats, stretch, maybe even lift at the gym. I'd recommend this video for knee injury prevention: http://www.gaiam.com/strong-knees/05-53351,default,pd.html. This free intro of the video has awesome exercises, definitely at least do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egtDsX696Ak

4. You actually do need some calories (carbs) to be able to do a longer run. I was counting calories here, so I wouldn't eat enough trying to have more of a deficit, and would get fatigued for 6+ mile runs. Have a healthy carby snack - fruit + oatmeal, whatever - to give your body the energy it does really need for this.

5. People with asthma: close your mouth when you run. It made a huge difference for me, especially in winter. And it's easier (for me) than it sounds to do. If you can't close your mouth - you're exerting yourself more than that, or the asthma is too bad to close your mouth - cover it with something you can breathe through, to warm up and filter the air you get in your lungs. I use a synthetic runner's headband to cover my mouth when I run in the winter. I'm sure I look like a dork, but I'd MUCH rather be able to finish a long run comfortably than to wheeze and be in pain through it all.

6. For the mind game of completing such a long distance - it's helpful/okay to watch the ground when you're really wanting to stop. One foot down at a time. You can see yourself moving, and it helps you stop focusing on how far away the goal is.

7. Mind game: an awesome playlist works wonders. I use this tool - http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm - to tap the beats per minute in my favorite songs, picking the ones with the higher BPM (not too high for my stride, but high enough to motivate). Engineering my playlist sped me up 30 seconds per mile for the last half I did.

8. It helps to run/train with a friend if possible, celebrate your victories together. See if you can recruit someone to sign up with you!

9. SHOES. My arches were hurting, when a friend suggested I replace my shoes. I'd had them for a year and a half, and had bought nice running shoes, so I thought they were okay. Wrong - when I bought new shoes at a running store, fitted for my feet, the brand new shoes OVERNIGHT fixed my arch pain. The lifespan of a running shoe, when training for a half marathon and exercising lots, is 6 months. It does matter.

10. Drink lots of water, throughout the day, and especially before you run. Stay hydrated. I actually stop on my long runs wherever I can to get water - McDonald's, water fountains in parks, whatever. It sounds like a no-brainer but it's one of those rules I didn't take seriously enough. I'd have a little cup of water, go run, whatever - but as I got more serious, I started noticing that wasn't enough, and lack of water would be a bottleneck. Now I drink at least 3/4ths of a liter before I run (I force the amount like that if I'm running first thing in the morning, otherwise hopefully I've been drinking enough all day already to go run!).

Hope this helps someone!!