Training and Working Out Wednesday
The half marathon I have in my sights is 1 month away. I think the 30 day mark has made me realize it will be here before I know it! I figured I would mention that my goal in 30 days is to place in the top ten of my age division with a time of ~ 1 hour and 30 minutes.
13.1 miles in 90 minutes
The race is sponsored by 
, which I have been too busy to stop in to join! My schedule is pretty tight these days and I’ve traveled most of September. This week I will drop off my forms! They have coaching too so it couldn’t hurt to learn a few tips.
I’ve learned several tips in the process of training for marathons without formal coaching so I thought I’d share some today. One tip has been to wait to register for any race if you have been injured in the past. I wait until I am inside the 30 day window per advice of an ortho. surgeon I saw when I injured my knee again shortly after I began this blog. Even though I have managed to effectively avoid injury and surgery, I pay a little bit more in registration for the safety of a better chance of race completion (injury free). You might pay $80 early on but if something happens during training, you can lose that $80 easily. I end up waiting as long as possible, maybe paying $100 instead, to have the insurance of injury free training; especially considering the money usually goes towards charity.
My most important tip has been to reduce frequency of running but increase distance (if you have been injured in the past as well). I write “reduce frequency of running” for marathon training realizing that it is quite contradictory. I have gained considerable training benefits and reduced my times significantly but only running twice a week or less even! Taking the time to rest is so important and I find that resting allows your muscles to repair fully, which has resulted for me in crushing my next workout/time/goal!
My last tip is to track what you have done so that you know what works and what doesn’t, how far you have come/gone, and where to go from there. My workout wednesday posts started at the end of June and have helped me stay on target for my future goals. I hope you have enjoyed them. Here are the links for those:
Date(Total Weekly Mileage):
- Week 6/15 (11 miles)
- Week 6/22 ( 20 miles) 10 miler in 74:20
- Week 6/29 (15 miles)
- Week 7/20 ( 10 miles)
- Week 8/5 (10 miles) PR- 5 miler in 38 minutes
- Week 8/12 (10 miles) PR- 10 miler in 67 minutes
and 8/24 (20 miles) PR- 5.1 miler in 35 minutes - Week 9/5 (16.5 miles) a 12.5 miler and a 4 miler
- and 9/12 (22 miles) a 14 miler and an 8 miler
- Week of 9/19 ( 24 miles) a 9 miler and a 15 miler
- PR – 13.1 miles in 1 hr 26 minutes
(9 miler along Seaport Village)
- 4 Weeks till Race Day!
So last week ( Wednesday Week of 9/19) – I did one gym workout and 2 runs. The first was a 15 miler and the second was a 9 mile run in downtown San Diego ( 60 minutes ~ 9 miles). My goal for this race is to keep the same time I ran this week. I completed 13.1 miles out of the 15 miler in 1 hour and 26 minutes. I could actually make my goal if I keep up with that time!
This week… I caught some sort of bug so I was resting quite a bit. I finally did one quick run on Sunday ( 4 miles ) and one amazing 10 miler last night! I think my key to staying injury free has been to only run twice a week ( one long and one short) and to incorporate lots of other cross training, hot yoga, resistance and strength training too.
Working Out Wednesday Weekly Highlights:
Wednesday Sept. 14th- Strength – Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Hammies
Thursday Sept. 15th- Rest/Travel
Saturday Sept.17th- 15 mile run. PR- 13.1 in 1 hour 26 minutes. ( total time was ~ 1 hr 40 minutes)
Sunday Sept. 18th- Hot Yoga
Wednesday Sept. 21st- Strength – Chest, Shoulders, Abs. Elliptical at the Hotel.
Friday Sept. 23nd- My BIRTHDAY! Rest/Travel
Saturday Sept.24th- 9 mile run
Wednesday Sept. 28th- Saturday Oct. 1 – Sick! Rest rest rest rest.
Sunday Oct.2nd- 4 mile run
Monday Oct. 3rd- Strength – Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Hammies
Tuesday Oct. 4th- 10 mile run – 74 minutes
Wednesday Oct. 5th- Rest
Thursday Oct. 6th- Strength- Back, Biceps, Quads
Friday Oct. 7th- Hot Yoga ?
What was your favorite workout this week?
What are your thoughts on running less often but running smarter/harder when you do run?
