I told you guys last month how I felt like I had reached a plateau with my running. I was running the same mileage at the same speed and it didn't even feel any easier even though I've been consistently running since I left my job. If I'm being honest with myself, it really started back in the fall. It was easy to write off any sluggish runs over the summer because it was so incredibly hot and humid, a record breaking summer. But summer turned into fall then turned into winter and I just wasn't feeling it any longer.
I attempted to add in some weight lifting at the beginning of the year but that lasted for only a couple of weeks. I really do need to find a way to incorporate some weights into my exercise though. As with everything else, you need to make a commitment and stick with it.
Over the years, I've thought of running a half marathon mainly because I feel like I missed my chance to do so back before I had children. Physically, it would have been easy for me to train back then. I was running 5 days a week and, quite often, my long runs reached 8-10 miles. I know plenty of people my age (and older) successfully complete half marathons and marathons, but with each passing year, I feel my body moving further and further away from longer runs.
So in February, I decided to find a half marathon training plan and follow it to see what would happen. I told Rich I had reached a point where I just wanted someone to tell me when to run and how far to run. What I was doing obviously was not working any longer.
Google search "half marathon training plan" and you'll end up with a billion hits. After I began perusing through them, it was easy to eliminate several based on what I knew I didn't want.
- I wasn't concerned with speed work.
- I didn't want to run 6 days a week. (That would be crazy and surely lead to an injury.)
- I wanted a plan focused on how many miles I should be running, not how much time I should be running. There are plans that have you run, say, 30 minutes this day, and then 45 minutes the next. While that may work for some runners, it wasn't what I wanted.
I finally settled on the Novice 2 half marathon training plan from Hal Higdon. Personally, I wanted to stick with someone who has known running experience. There are so many "experts" online nowadays and no controls. Anyone can create and post a half marathon training plan. I went with the Novice 2 plan because it had me running 4 days a week, and I thought if I found it too difficult, I could fall back on the Novice 1 plan.
This plan has Friday as a rest day, which I initially thought would work out well because that's when I have my adult tap class. But a week before I started the program, I came out of tap class thinking that it really doesn't qualify as a rest day. So I kept the days in the same order of the original plan but I shifted them so that my first day of the week is not Monday. This way, my day for 60 minutes of cross training fell on Friday, and I could use my tap class as a cross training session.
I know a lot of runners like to do their long runs over the weekend, but for me not being at work, that didn't really make sense. When I shifted the days of the plan, I ended up with only have to run 3 miles every Sunday. This was a perfect fit.
Here's what I ran:
Week 1
S - 3 miles
M - 3 miles
T - 3 miles
Th - 4 miles
Week 2
S - 3 miles
M - 3 miles
T - 3 miles
Th - 5 miles
Week 3
S - 3 miles
M - 4 miles
T - 3 miles
Th - 6 miles
Week 4
S - 3 miles
M - 4 miles
T - 3 miles
Th - 7 miles
Week 5
S - 3 miles
M - 4 miles
T - 3 miles
Th - 8 miles
Week 6
S - 3 miles
M - 4 miles
T - 3 miles
Th - 3 miles (This was supposed to be a 5K race but it's a Thursday in March, so 3 miles at home it is.)
Why did I stop after 6 weeks? Well, I feel like I have a good base/plan to work from for now. Life will be a bit busy for the next month. I know there are people who are hard core and wake up at 4:00 in the morning in order to get their run in. I am not one of those people. 4:00 in the morning is basically the middle of the night for me. I may pick it up/start over/begin another plan at some point in the near future. Also, for my body right now, I cannot completely enjoy/give it my all in tap class the day after a really long run. My toes hurt for about a day and a half after that 8 mile run.
1. Lesson learned - I need to run more back-to-back days and not baby myself. That first week, running 3 miles, 3 days in a row was not easy. By the third day, I was in compression socks. Rich said, "But it's only 3 miles," and while that's true, my body was not used to running multiple days in a row.
2. Even after only 6 weeks, my body feels stronger. I feel better and have more power when I run. If I had to run for the train right now, I know I would kill it!
3. My midsection feels flatter and I don't feel as bloated. This could be for other reasons as well, but I'm going to assume some of it has to do with more exercise. I know I've told you guys this before, but my stomach area is all messed up from carrying the girls to 36 weeks. (Believe me, I know I'm so incredibly lucky to have been able to do so.) My abdominal muscles and skin were stretched out to kingdom come. So as the day progresses and I eat, my stomach grows. Some days are worse than others.
4. I don't know if my weight has changed because I don't regularly weigh myself. Our scale is super old and nondigital and really only good for major swings in weight. I rely on how my clothes fit and right now, I feel like everything is a good fit.
5. I really didn't think I'd be able to increase the mileage of my long runs so quickly. 8 miles? I think the last time I ran 8 miles was 15 years ago. You won't know what you can do until you push yourself.
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