I am all set to begin a 13 week training program leading up to the Earth Day Half Marathon in St. Cloud on April 21, 2018. Last year I tried a heart rate training program which ended up with disastrous results although I don't believe that the training itself caused the difficulty. I had managed to get myself into a lot of doubts and worry leading up the event and had a difficult time executing the race strategy. I ended up ignoring the beginnings of an injury which reared its ugly head about a week after the slowest half I'd run in quite a few years. So...whether or not hear rate training could be good for me, I'm taking a more traditional approach this year with the "Own It" plan from Another Mother Runner.
The plan is from the book Train Like a Mother. They put the Finish It plan on the internet for free so I included that one as a sample to look at in order not to violate any copyright laws...stealing is stealing. I'd highly recommend all three of the Another Mother Runner books. Highly entertaining! The first book is mainly anecdotes about running in general for beginners to women who have run many years. The second one is specific to training and the third one is all stories of mother runners...I'm off-topic from training, but I got all three books for a Mother's Day gift a couple years ago and go back to them often. The library sometimes has them, too. The reason I chose this particular plan is the addition of two speed workouts per week. Speed has a different meaning depending on your age, skill and motivation, but for my purposes, it means get my feet moving at different paces for different runs. I also like that this plan ramps up the distance run early...we are starting with 8 miles on week one...and has several runs of 13 miles or more. Deb and I tend to love our long runs, so we like a program that allows and even encourages those 12-15 milers leading up to the 13.1 mile race. Most of our long runs have sections at race pace, so that will be a third day each week my feet will have to get going! This training plan is about five running days per week which is about my normal. I was a six day lady until a stress fracture shortly after qualifying for Boston in 2011. I was deathly afraid I was not going to be healed in time to train for the April 2012 race, but with encouragement, I cross trained and once I could run again, backed off to 3-4 running days per week and then eventually went to five. My 46-year-old body handles that amount most of the time. Stephanie and I will be keeping you posted on our training. Sometime soon I will share my experience of the Fargo Marathon in 2010. It's a very nice race and Stephanie pointed out how it ends indoors. Let's just say indoors can be a little hazardous if you are with anyone with a week stomach... If you aren't planning to do a race this spring or summer but want to train along with us, feel free to print off the training plan Stephanie or I posted and set yourself a virtual race day. At the end of the plan, you can make your Saturday run a "race" distance, time yourself and be sure to have a celebratory lunch out or buy a new "race" shirt for yourself! Happy running--Missee
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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