Half Marathon Training: Week 1

I ran the Richmond Marathon in 2005 at the start of my first grad school year, and it was an incredible experience that I still carry with me. I have many times since then called on the mind-body confidence and inspiration that I felt in meeting that challenge, particularly in preparation for giving birth.

I have run many half marathons, mostly in 2005-2008, and a few shorter races while pregnant and in between pregnancies.

I like the half marathon distance because it requires only a 3 month training commitment and the runs are never over 2 hours.  It offers a good challenge without the hardship that I equate with the longer 6 month marathon training and 3.5+ training runs. 

This year I'm on a SportsBackers training team: the Zebras! So I will probably be sporting a lot of animal print between now and the big race day in November. I love running the long runs in a team environment because it is so convenient to have someone else determine the routes and I really enjoy the SAG stops, which are tailgate style pit-stops with water, gatorade, and gummies of all kinds to refuel every few miles. 

While I have been crossfitting for a couple years now, I don't run that frequently, maybe a couple times a week, and I usually choose runs that are around 3.0 miles.  In the past, I have had a hard time keeping up a training schedule while also maintaining my regular fitness routine.  

My plan for this event is to run the long runs with my Saturday team, and to run the midweek run on my own, filling in the other days with my usual Crossfit mornings. We ran our first group run last Saturday: 2.87 miles, 30:23 min, 10:37 pace. 

This week:

Monday: crossfit

Tuesday: 3.04 miles, 32:45 min, 10:47 pace

Wednesday: weight lifting at Gold's Gym

Thursday: crossfit

Friday: crossfit

Saturday: 2.98 miles, 31:27 min, 10:34 pace

Sunday: rest/active rest

Today's Saturday Run: 3 miles

My average pace seems to be somewhere around 11:00 minutes but I run faster when I'm in a group. I think the pace that I kept this week is a combination of my new Garmin (which continuously displays my pace and motivates me to keep it up) and running sans stroller. I am conditioned to run with the Duallie, often pushing both kids and all of their books/snacks/etc. When I run alone it feels like a relative breeze. 

To stay comfortable and hydrated on my runs I bought the new Camelbak Dart. I used the camelbak's lumbar reservoir system for the 2005 marathon, and while I didn't mind the way it jostled around during my runs, I thought I might avoid the potential chafing issues that I experienced on a few rainy and long runs that year. 

Some will say that this is overkill for short runs of 3 or 4 miles, but I really do feel better when I can drink whenever I want to. I filled it only half way, tightened the straps down, and I almost couldn't tell I was wearing it. I think it's going to work out nicely!  As for music, I always run with my iphone or shuffle with ear pods. While there are some fancy headphones out there, I prefer to run with headband style earphones because they never come out of my ears. I was curious about the yurbuds inspire series but decided to go with what I know, the cheap oldschool-style sony brand. 

I'm looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow! 

If you run, what accessories do you count as essential?