Half-marathon training plans

For my first half, my plan was simple, 2 runs per week, one longer, and one half the distance of the upcoming long run. My long runs (one per week) were planned as follows: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 7, race.

This is much less than any training guide out there, but I wanted something I knew I could commit to because it did not require too much time.

This resulted in a 1:50 half (pace 1:24 min/mile). Clearly, not face by runner standards, but I was quite happy, this being my first and given the limited training I did.

The only other elements of my training were not racing oriented: one hour of yoga per week and two hours of bouldering per week.

For my second half (in may), I will modify my plan a little, although the basic structure will be the same: two runs per week for sure. The long runs will be: 7, 8, 9, 8, 10, 11, 9, 12, 13, 10, 14, 15, 11, 16, 7, race. The short run will still be half of the long. In addition, especially when it gets warmer, I will try to add one more run in the week, but something more technical, like intervals.

I will also keep the yoga and climbing, but would like to add one weight lifting session.

I'll post once in a while about my progress.

Sometime the most important thing is showing up

Distance: 7 mi.
Pace: 9:25 min/mi.

First 2 miles with Ariane at a little more than 10 min/mi. After that it was hard to pickup the pace, but I managed to take it down to 8:17 in the last mile.

Thanksgiving Week: Faster, Higher, Flexibler?

Distance: 3.5 miles
Pace: 8:39 mi/min

Friday morning, full of Turkey, I wen off with only a short distance goal. It was a bit warmer than last Sunday, 25 degrees. After 0.6 miles I look at my watch and I was doing sub 9 min/mi. This is the same road I was doing above 10 min/mi on last Sunday. For some reason, I was feeling much better, and I managed to keep my pace throughout, going up or going down.

Tuesday night K, R and I went to BKB. There too we did better than last week. Climbed a bunch of stuff, my best ones being V5s.

On Monday I did yoga for the first time in years. I was just as bad as the last time I tried, but that just means I should really be doing more of this. I'll try to do it once a week.

So I failed my goal of four activities between Monday and Friday, but not bad for Thanksgiving week. Tomorrow, 7 miles.

20 is cold

Dist.: 6 mi
Pace: 9:28 min/mi
Elevation gain/loss: 363 feet

First real cold run. 20 degrees this Sunday in the Catskills. Between the cold and the wind I had tears running down my face early on. The first 2.5 miles were very difficult. In fact, I kind of quit at that point, turning around before my planned mid-point. At mile 3 I put on some music, the sun started to shine on me between the trees, and I felt energized. My pace started getting better. When I was back home, I decide to keep going to reach my 6 miles goal. Looking back at the data, the first part involved about 200 feet of elevation, that probably explains part of the sluggish feeling.

Now I have to increase my distance every week to be ready for http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-events/2014/fred-lebow-manhattan-half.

Training Log

Distance: 3.94 m
Pace: 10:04 min/mi

Day one of training for the half (my first half that is). Back still twitchy, so taking it slow. The distance and pace numbers are a bit misleading as it includes the 9 flight of stairs of my building (at the start and the end), and the traffic between the house and the west side. Uninterrupted running was 2.5 miles at a pace between 9 and 9:10.

The stairs at the end are a good addition.