This week I thought I'd talk about my goals for training/my half. Yeah? But first, here's what the week has looked like.
Workouts this week:
Tuesday, Feb. 12th: Missed my run. Womp womp. There was some bad news round these parts and some cheering up that had to be done. Priorities!
Wednesday, Feb. 13th: Weds are crosstraining or rest days. I had an event and did a lot of setting up of tables and chairs and running around and up and down stairs, so I counted it as cross :)
Thursday, Feb. 14th: Rest day
Friday, Feb. 15th: Pre-race day -- I wanted to do three miles, but I was nervous about over-exerting so I held it to two and a half outside.
Saturday, 16th: Sweetheart 5k Run! Race recap coming soon. :)
Sunday, Feb. 17th: Cross day. I did 35 minutes on a bike at the rec and did some reading for class
Monday, Feb. 18th: Three miles inside.
Pits of the week:
Missing my scheduled four-mile run made me really anxious, especially since I had to rest so much the previous week. Going into my 5k this weekend I was suddenly panicky because it felt like it had been SO LONG since I'd run that far! But it turned out well, and I have a four-miler planned for today.
Peaks of the week:
The Sweetheart Run! It was so awesome, guys. Can't wait to tell you about it. Even though that technically breaks my "running-talk-on-Tuesdays" rule, but I think races deserve their own posts.
Also, my three miles yesterday. My app malfunctioned and had to start over after the first mile -- BUT. The first was around 10 minutes and the next two were in the NINE MINUTE range! Woah. I haven't been doing anything to intentionally increase my pace. It's just happening. But I like it!
But first -- I realized I never mentioned for any non-runners out there -- A half marathon is 13.1 miles. :)
Since the most I've ever run is 6.2 miles, I haven't felt comfortable setting a time goal for my race yet. I mean, I know what pace I can maintain for 3 miles, but I think it's probably unlikely that I can hold that for 13.1 miles. So here's what I've come up with for goals:
Hit all my long runs.
Every week, I have a long run. These will usually be on Saturdays and increase by a mile a week. (Although the plan does give me two lower-mileage weeks for a break :) I want to make sure to run all my long runs. I've heard that's the most important part of training, and I think it makes a whole lot of sense. If I miss my 6-mile run, mentally, I know I would convince myself that the 7 mile run will be impossible. So I want to hit all my long runs -- even if I do them on a different day.
Run at least 85% of my total runs
Counting what I've already done off my schedule, my 5ks, and my actual race, I have 57 runs scheduled. Hitting 85% of the runs means I can miss eight runs if I need to. Because I want to do all my long runs, that means these will be "shorter" runs -- ranging from two to four and a half miles -- that I'd miss. And I'm okay with that. If I get sick, if I've had a busy week, if I have to finish writing a paper -- I need to be okay with missing a run. So I'm building it into my idea of success for training.
Know myself by race day
Okay, weird name for this goal, but what I mean is, by race day I want to have a rough idea of the pace I should run. I want to know what to eat on race day and the night before and what to wear and how much water I should drink. These are the kinds of things that will make me nervous leading up to race day, so I want to pay attention to them during my training. So this kind of thing might show up in my Training Tuesdays.
My training plan
I thought today I'd also show you my training plan -- you all might remember that I love training plans. I already mentioned that I purchased a book about training as a vegetarian and it came with a half marathon plan, which I loosely based my personal training plan off of. And for this training cycle, I have turned my plan into a sticker chart!
I think it'll be fun to put in the stickers as I go. :) So far I have missed one run, but the other blank spots are from when I was away and from a Wednesday, which is an optional cross-training day for me.
Also, one last thing -- Tamara brought up making this a link-up and said she'd co-host. I think I'll start throwing a linky thing at the end. If anyone wants to post anything fitness related, you're more than welcome! But no pressure. :)
But be sure to stop by if you see someone who has linked! Gotta support anyone getting their workout on, right? :)
Do you all have any current fitness goals? I'd love to hear about them!
Peaks of the week:
The Sweetheart Run! It was so awesome, guys. Can't wait to tell you about it. Even though that technically breaks my "running-talk-on-Tuesdays" rule, but I think races deserve their own posts.
Also, my three miles yesterday. My app malfunctioned and had to start over after the first mile -- BUT. The first was around 10 minutes and the next two were in the NINE MINUTE range! Woah. I haven't been doing anything to intentionally increase my pace. It's just happening. But I like it!
And now, my goals for training.
Since the most I've ever run is 6.2 miles, I haven't felt comfortable setting a time goal for my race yet. I mean, I know what pace I can maintain for 3 miles, but I think it's probably unlikely that I can hold that for 13.1 miles. So here's what I've come up with for goals:
Hit all my long runs.
Every week, I have a long run. These will usually be on Saturdays and increase by a mile a week. (Although the plan does give me two lower-mileage weeks for a break :) I want to make sure to run all my long runs. I've heard that's the most important part of training, and I think it makes a whole lot of sense. If I miss my 6-mile run, mentally, I know I would convince myself that the 7 mile run will be impossible. So I want to hit all my long runs -- even if I do them on a different day.
Run at least 85% of my total runs
Counting what I've already done off my schedule, my 5ks, and my actual race, I have 57 runs scheduled. Hitting 85% of the runs means I can miss eight runs if I need to. Because I want to do all my long runs, that means these will be "shorter" runs -- ranging from two to four and a half miles -- that I'd miss. And I'm okay with that. If I get sick, if I've had a busy week, if I have to finish writing a paper -- I need to be okay with missing a run. So I'm building it into my idea of success for training.
Know myself by race day
Okay, weird name for this goal, but what I mean is, by race day I want to have a rough idea of the pace I should run. I want to know what to eat on race day and the night before and what to wear and how much water I should drink. These are the kinds of things that will make me nervous leading up to race day, so I want to pay attention to them during my training. So this kind of thing might show up in my Training Tuesdays.
My training plan
I thought today I'd also show you my training plan -- you all might remember that I love training plans. I already mentioned that I purchased a book about training as a vegetarian and it came with a half marathon plan, which I loosely based my personal training plan off of. And for this training cycle, I have turned my plan into a sticker chart!
 |
| Blurred because I purchased the plan :) |
Also, one last thing -- Tamara brought up making this a link-up and said she'd co-host. I think I'll start throwing a linky thing at the end. If anyone wants to post anything fitness related, you're more than welcome! But no pressure. :)
But be sure to stop by if you see someone who has linked! Gotta support anyone getting their workout on, right? :)
Do you all have any current fitness goals? I'd love to hear about them!
7 comments:
Stickers always make a chart more exciting! Awesome job on the 9 minute range miles!
I totally forget you are vegetarian. I think I'm going to try to when I get back home. At least for a month. :)
I'd totally link up too! Tamara suggested I do a post on my bike training!
I love your running posts. I've been planning on running more, but the wind has been killer and I just can't run in 20-30 mph winds yet. I've managed to do every other day, minus one, so far.
LOVE the stickers! I want to do this for my next half training. This is much more motivational and fun than a check mark. Awesome job so far and I think your goals are really realistic but also good for pushing yourself.
You're freaking awesome!
I love the "Know myself by race day". I know I was more nervous about everything other than running when I did my first half because I felt like, hell, that's just one foot in front of the other but what if I chafe? Or puke because I ate something bad? Eek. Embarrassing!
Ohhh I love this idea for a link up!!! I will need to do that next week :)
I love your training plan goals--it sounds like our plans are similar and I have some of the same goals as you do. I've slacked a bit this week because I'm starting to feel sick, but this weekend I'm planning to run a long run so we'll see how that goes :)
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