Friday, July 23, 2010

Training Plan

I've been training for my half-marathon in November for just about a week now and I must say, training is going better than expected. Of course, I’ve only had to run a mile-and-a-half for the four days I’ve had runs scheduled, but I’m still surprised I’ve managed to run that distance after being such a lazy bum at running for the past few years.

I thought I would take time today to detail out my training schedule for the next 4 months so you can see what it looks like and give me advice. Like I mentioned before, I'm using Hal Higdon's 5K and half-marathon plan for the next 19 weeks and the schedule isn't as overwhelming as I thought it would be. The longest run I do is 10 miles and I have until November to work up to that.

Coming up with the training plan was incredibly hard and time-consuming. July and most of August was pretty easy and then I had to factor in school and my internship. I redid August-November probably 3-4 times because I don't want to set myself up to fail. I want to do everything in my power to insure I'll be able to train for this successfully and not work myself too hard.

So here's my plan, complete with rest days and cross-training. I'm not as concerned as fitting in cross-training as I am with my runs. I am 110% committed to getting in the 3-4 runs a week, but can also use those cross-training days as a rest day if need be. I really don't have a problem with taking rest days and listening to my body. That's not a big issue for me. The big issue is deciding if I really need a rest day, or if I'm just being lazy.

I have the plan written on a printed-out calendar because I just need a visual representation of everything.

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010  
October 2010

November 2010 
Some notes:
  • NMTZ = No More Trouble Zones, a workout DVD by Jillian Michaels. (AKA: HELL!)
  • I followed Hal Higdon’s plan with a few switches, including making sure I had my long runs on Saturday and Sunday. I know I should give myself a shorter run on Saturday and my longest on Sunday, but it just didn’t work with my schedule. Also, I took off the last week of 5K training because I only have 19 weeks until my half, not 20 as I had previously thought.
  • Once I school starts back up on August 23rd, my schedule gets a little crazy. (But not as crazy as Spring semester! Yay!) Basically, I tried to schedule my workouts according to what my day at school looked like. And I didn’t want to overwhelm myself.
  • Bike/yoga/elliptical relates to cross-training, which Higdon recommends.
  • When I start the half training, I’ll be doing 4 runs every other week. On Higdon’s schedule, he gives the option of doing a run or cross-training once a week so I just decided to rotate weeks when I would do one or the other.
  • My mom, whose training for a marathon, is running this half-marathon with me. She checked her training schedule to find out she has to run 21 miles on November 21st. I find this extremely hilarious!
I’d love any feedback you guys can give me on the schedule. Did I make it too easy, too hard, just right? Do you have any tips for my long runs? Am I totally crazy for doing this?!

10 comments:

  1. You are so determined it's incredible! I'm so proud of you :) I wish I could offer running tips but I am pretty new to the game as well. I bought Jillian Michaels' 30DS a couple of weeks ago and when I get back from holiday next month I am breaking it out (should I be this scared? lol!)

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  2. The only thing I would maybe be worried about is running on Saturday AND Sunday. I know I had that for my training plan earlier and then had to rework it because running both Saturday AND Sunday was too much for me - I needed one weekend day to relax and sleep in!

    Other than that I think it looks great!! :)

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  3. Stephany... will you be my personal trainer? No, seriously! This is seriously the work of a personal trainer. Look at you! I am so proud of you for doing this. Stick with it, you're going to do so awesome!

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  4. Good for you for setting up a schedule and figuring it all out! (The figuring it all out part seems really daunting to me.) =)

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  5. This is so well-thought out... how incredible you are! This is seriously so inspiring. Even though I'm not training for any sort of marathon, I may follow in your footsteps and create some sort of monthly workout plan that details my workout for each day. A general goal for the month just isn't cutting it!

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  6. there's the pics! so i had a trainer at a gym make a custom daily training thing for me - i think it goes over 6 months...i'm not sure. let me know if you want me to send it to you and shoot me your email - i'm sure it would be interesting to compare!

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  7. Girl, you are awesome! I NEED to do something like this, and you're an inspiration. Whenever I DO work up the inner courage and strength, I'm coming to you with all questions, concerns and moanings!

    Good luck - you're going to do amazing!

    Abbie

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  8. Wow, good planning. I'm proud of you for running 1.5 miles already...I'm not a runner and would have a really hard time with this!! haha. I have NO motivation to run!

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  9. EEK. I am so excited for you. My advice (because your plan looks awesome) is if you feel burned out then you need to revise. Don't keep pushing forward if something seems off... I always try super hard to listen to my body and what it is telling me.. Listen to your body.

    And don't be discouraged if you need breaks.. May I suggest even fitting yoga somewhere into this? I think you might find the yoga will help with breathing and breathing is the key to running for long periods of time. In through the nose out through the mouth...

    Best,

    Hannah Katy

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  10. I think this looks like a good/solid training plan. I think the #1 thing is to listen to your body. If you are over tired and achy, add in a rest day. Play around with it and find a way to make it work for you/your busy life. That is still something i Struggle with. Balancing it all is tough, but if you make running a priority, you can do it!

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Comments make me all giddy with excitement.

 
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