Good evening friends! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! My husband I are staying up late doing laundry and he’s finishing up his lesson plans for the week, so I thought I’d blog:) My half marathon training does not offically start until tomorrow, but I wanted to start my weekly workouts feature for fun and to hold myself accountable.
I’ve only run about ten times in 2017 and one of them was a 5k race that I ran without training…I have a history of not properly training for post college races. I did a half marathon in summer 2014 where I started training one month ahead of time. I only ran 3 days per week and my longest run was 8 miles. I think I was burned out from college and college running- I shouldn’t have signed up for the race in the first place. Anyway, I ended the race with yet another IT band injury and was unable to properly run without issues until I went through intense physical therapy in spring 2015. You can read more about my injury history here.
I will not allow myself to put anymore meaningless things before my favorite hobby or to run anymore races without training. I am officially committed to training properly for this half marathon! I am following the Hal Higdon Novice 2 training plan plus 2 days a week of strengthening exercises to protect/strengthen my hips/glutes/IT band. Despite my experience as a D-1 XC/track athlete, this is a good choice for me because I have not really been running this year and I have a history of injury, so I want to play it safe. Here’s the link to the training plan I’m using. My ultimate time goal for this half is under 1 hour and 30 min, but my realistic goal is 1 hour and 35 min.
So without further ado, here are my weekly workouts for my half marathon training. As a note, this was not the best week for me personally or training wise. My grandfather broke his hip 2 weeks ago and then unexpectedly passed away on Monday. 😦 I found myself unmotivated and sad early in the week, but then I found solace in running later in the week. Here’s a picture of my grandpa and I dancing at my wedding last month. Sorry for the low quality picture. Regardless, I am fortunate for this happy memory with him!
Monday August 14th: REST
Tuesday August 15th: REST
Wednesday August 16th: REST
Thursday August 17th: 3 miles at 7:53 pace (according to my Garmin) followed by stretching and hip strength exercises (see examples of what I do under Saturday’s training)
Friday August 18th: A late 2 miles after work at 7:51 pace
Saturday August 19th: hip and glute strength exercises at the gym:
-band walks (side to side and forward/backward): 3x 20 reps each side
-walking lunges: 2x 20 reps each leg
-squats with the large resistance band: 2×20 reps
-foam block balancing and raises: 3×10 reps each leg
-tipping bird: 3×10 reps each side
-clamshells with resistance band: 3×10 reps each side
-bridges with resistance band and 2 second hold: 2×10 reps
-leg raises with resistance band: 2×10 reps each side
-foam rolling and stretching: 10 minutes
Sunday August 20th: REST
Today’s questions: How was your week of training? What races are you training for? Do you use a training plan when you sign up for a race?
Oh God, reading this reminds me of how I haven’t been training or running at all for the half marathon I’m doing in early in September… I WANT TO DROP OUT. D: I CAN’T DO IT LOL.
Is it too late to quit… T_T
No! You can do it! 🏃🏼♀️🙌🏻 When is your half??
LOL it was either September 10th weekend or September 15th weekend…
-CRIES-
I’m so sorry to hear about your grandfather. Such a difficult loss I am sure. I think that the Hal Higdon plan is such a great one and I am sure you will enjoy it. There is something really funny about following a plan after years of training. I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you. He was very special! And yes, it’s so weird to be following a plan a few years after being a college runner…but I haven’t been running much so it seems like the right choice!
Very sorry to hear about your Grandpa. Good luck on the start of your training!
Thank you! 😊
Sorry to hear about your grandfather, but it sounds like you have wonderful memories to look back on and remember. All that strength work is going to help a lot! I posted my workout from today on IG and am focusing on my glutes/hips too! I’m excited to follow along with your training 🙂
Thank you! And yes I hope the strength work helps! I’ll have to check out your IG workout for some new ideas. 😊 How often do you do strength workouts? In college we went to the weight room twice a week, plus body weight/resistance bad stuff on a third and sometimes fourth day. I’m just getting back into things so I’ll aim for two.
*band not bad