Today I am sharing my training plan for the Pittsburgh Half Marathon on May 1.
Kim had asked me what my goals were for this race. Great question! This will most definitely NOT be a PR attempt, so I want to enjoy the atmosphere and scenery. Beyond that, I hope to finish the race feeling strong and without dying on the hills. (Dying is a relative term, of course...)
It was a challenge to design this training plan for a few reasons:
- I'm trying to take advantage of my company's fitness center as much as possible. I want to keep the momentum going with my weekly yoga and Zumba classes.
- Strength-training is a priority.
- I need to log semi-sufficient mileage on top of hill-training at least once a week. At the same time, I'm coming off a long running hiatus and zero base in hill-running.
- Rest days are obviously important.
After much consideration, this plan reflects my valiant and ambitious attempt at the best of all worlds:
MONDAYS: Lift
I'd like to maintain my pre-half marathon training routine of doing 3 sets of 8-10 reps on a full-body range (here is a sample lifting breakout). However, I am giving myself the flexibility of paring things down as needed depending on time or energy.
TUESDAYS: Yoga + 3-5 miles
I consider yoga to be active rest, so I figured I could do double-duty on yoga days within reason. This day will include a yoga class and an easy 3-5 miler. In the early weeks, I intend to start out around 3 miles then gradually increase up to 5.
WEDNESDAYS: Zumba or Rest
I love Zumba! This day is just for fun while still keeping the blood pumping. Since I don't consider Zumba to be an integral cog in running training, I am giving myself the option to take this day off if needed.
THURSDAYS: Hill training
Ahhh, hill training will be my biggest challenge of this training cycle. It will probably take place on the treadmill every week. I plan to start easy with both intensity and duration, then gradually increase either or both. I'm less concerned with the actual mileage on this day, but it'll probably come out around 3 miles, give or take.
Same sentiments as Tuesday, but this day I'll add an abbreviated lifting regimen. Upfront, I'm planning to do just 1 set of all my reps instead of 3. I am told a single set is still very effective.
SATURDAY: Rest
I went back and forth on which day to designate as an official rest day. On one hand, I have more time on weekends to work out. But on the other hand, I only have gym access Monday through Friday. I ended up choosing Saturdays to rest with the thought that it'll help me prepare for the next day's long run. I might occasionally flip-flop this with Sunday's routine based on schedules.
SUNDAY: Long run
In order to mimic the Pittsburgh Half Marathon course, I am looking at doing all of my long runs with incline work at the end, and hopefully some interspersed within. We'll see how ambitious I feel. However, I do not plan to incorporate incline work into my cutback weeks. I want to keep my cutback weeks easy.
Other Notes:
- The training plan started yesterday, and I've already deviated! I was supposed to lift but I took a much-needed rest day instead.
- As denoted in pink, Adam and I are going on an extended weekend cruise next month (be warned: I will have MUCHO to say about this cruise in future posts). I wanted to keep my workout routine flexible while on vacation.
- I've only got two races on the calendar during this training cycle - the Shamrock Shuffle and Chicago's Perfect 10. The timing of both happen to work quite nicely. (Chicago's Perfect 10 is traditionally a November race, but apparently they cancelled the event 9 days before last year's race day? Regardless, I've been wanting to run this race for a few years, so I'm happy about their new spring date.)
I just got an email about Perfect10 yesterday! Wonder what happened last year?? I may need to partake of that one. I'm so excited for you and your training. Holy hills! But you're going to emerge SO strong!
ReplyDeleteMarcia, let me know if you do decide to pull the trigger on the Perfect 10! I've heard rumors about the race organizers not paying some kind of fee to Navy Pier last year, but who knows. Thanks for the positive wishes on my hill training!!!
DeleteI bet it feels nice to have your training all laid out now!? I knew it took a load off of my shoulders. For me, your long runs seem a bit aggressive and also workouts plateau due to the lack of variety of weekly workouts. But we all have a method to our madness and find what works best for ourselves for our own goals. :) I'm excited to see how you conquer the hills for a strong finish in Pitts!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, Xaar! I agree the long runs are ambitious; I was trying to compensate for fairly low weekly mileage and running only 3 days a week. What long run buildup would you suggest instead? It's interesting to hear your thoughts on the workouts plateauing because I thought they were already pretty scattered to begin with! What would you suggest as an alternative from that standpoint, as well?
DeleteI don't think you need to make up for the lack of running with extended long runs. Running beats up the body and extra exertion can lead to issues because it takes longer to recover. I would suggest looking at the long run mileage for the Hal higdon intermediate program (and include your taper custback the week before) and then doing another day or 2 of cardio- like cycling for 30-45 min with intervals. Something low impact that you can recover quickly from. The workouts seem to plateau right away- your long runs go from 8-10-11-12 and the weekly workouts remain the same. Adding 1-2 miles is only an extra 10-20 minutes- not really substabtial enough for fitness gains unless you were also upping the intensity or duration of weekly workouts too. I've been running around 20 miles a week lately,but also cycling and swimming, and couldn't have felt better for my half this past weekend. You just have to trust your training as I found out. :)
DeleteHmmmm. Your suggestion on adding another day or two of cardio makes a lot of sense, but I honestly don't know where I'd fit it in? =( The yoga and strength-training are both important for injury prevention, so I am reluctant to drop those. I guess maybe I could forgo the Zumba but it's my one just-for-fun workout, you know? It's times like these that I wish I didn't have a day job and could spend my entire day training. Sigh.
DeleteZumba is good cardio! Maybe just one day of cycling? :) you know what works best for you and how to stay injury free. After looking at a ridiculous amount of training plans lately for various distances, that's why I made the comments I did about your plan. As long as you get to the stat healthy & meet your expectations fine the race, it was a good plan :)
DeleteI really do appreciate your thoughts, Xaar! These are definitely not perfect sciences for ANY of us. I strongly take your point about how the long runs don't necessarily make up for midweek mileage. I think I'm feeling extra ambitious right now since I've done so little running the last month. Right now I am rearing to go, you know? But to your point, burn-out, both physical and mental, is the worst and is certainly something to be really cautious about. The plan is fluid!
DeleteLooks like you have a good plan. I've been wanting to run this race but those hills scare me! -M
ReplyDeleteThanks Meranda! I won't kid you, those hills scare, or rather, TERRIFY me too!!! This is going to be a character builder, for sure!
DeleteTraining started for me too, but I have a cold :-/ I'm not sure what's in store this week but I will try my best.
ReplyDeleteAwwww, bummer to hear about your cold, Lesley! I wish you a speedy recovery!
DeleteYay for a cruise! I can't wait to hear more! Have you done one before?
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a good base structure (especially designated rest days - those are so important)! Do you ever lift more than once a week? I am curious what hill workouts you will do each week - do you plan to wing it, or do you have it written out? Has this mileage amount (per week) lead to feeling good at half marathons in the past? (3x running a week seems like a great amount to me). I know it's not for a PR, but are you going to do any focused speedwork (beyond the hill work that will give your legs some pep)? I hope you don't have to do ALL your hill work on the treadmill! But, at least you can get some good inclines on there! Good luck!
Thanks Kim! I've taken several cruises before but this one is a special Pittsburgh-themed cruise for Adam. =) Will talk more about it in a future post!
DeleteAppreciate your thoughts on the plan! In the past several months (prior to my barre membership), I would lift twice a week. For the Thursday hill workouts, I was planning on doing ladder-incline intervals (e.g. warm up 10 minutes, 1-2 minutes at 2%, 1-2 minutes at 0%, 1-2 minutes at 3%, 1-2 minutes at 0%, et al) and then gradually increasing the intensity over the weeks. On the long runs, I was planning to throw in some hills in the final few miles of each run and maybe a few in the interim. Beyond that, I didn't have any specifics outlined. Good point about trying to plan it out more. What suggestions do you have?
I wasn't planning to do any speedwork in addition to hill-work. Since I'm only running 3x per week, I figured hillwork by itself will be plenty! But what would you suggest from that standpoint, as well?
That sounds cool! Can't wait to hear more.
DeleteI don't want to open a can of worms on you with ideas for training :) But....
I think that is a good place to start for intervals. Definitely vary them each week, starting with low incline and low interval time and increasing. But I'd also vary it and challenge yourself too - 3 minutes at a high incline, 1 minute on a low one, 5 minutes on a medium one, etc, etc (with flats thrown in, too). Basically, intervals are good (doing the same hill over and over with rest between), but I think running some different hills within each run will also help prepare you for the race.
And it would be awesome to lift more than once a week, especially focusing on legs if you think they need it for those hills (they might not).
I imagine when Shamrock comes around you are going to want a PR (no? :) ) so I'd do focused speedwork for that. Really, since you run 3x a week and they are all a day apart you could do it on Tuesday, or every other Tuesday. There would be no reason to force it if your legs were trashed from all the hill running.
And like you said, you don't have to run hills on EVERY long run. However, I do believe hilly long runs (not just hills at the end, although that is good too!) REALLY help.
And as others have said, you can build up more gradually with your LR mileage, and not run repeats of the same distance so many weekends in a row :) I know some have said to run LESS, but I like to run over the distance I am training for (except for the marathon, then I only get up to 23-24 in training).
But I am not a coach! I just pretend to be one for some of my friends. Ha ha ha.
AWESOME advice, Kim. I like the idea of doing "hill fartleks" since that is a much better approximation of real race conditions than the treadmill. I will try to emulate your superwoman-ness and add in some speedwork whenever I'm feeling good. And I do plan on taking everyone's suggestions on doing a more gradual LR build-up. You can tell I had fresh legs when I designed this training plan, because these days I'm really rearing to go with the LRs! But I imagine a few weeks into the plan the burnout could become a factor. That's a big consideration.
DeleteWhile you are not a coach, you have tremendous experience and an enviable level of fitness! I take your suggestions to heart based on how inspirationally successful you've been over the years!
Great training schedule! I wonder how your incorporation of lifting will help you with your running ... this is pretty new for you right? Along with a training plan?
ReplyDeleteWow - a cruise! I can't wait to hear more about that.
Thanks Natalie! I've got some friends who have had HUGE success with lifting buoying their running, so I am hoping to follow suit! I did put a training plan together for the Illinois Half Marathon a few years ago, but historically I do semi-wing my training, yes. Definitely more on the cruise to come soon! =)
DeleteLooks like a great plan. Have fun on the cruise! I should probably think about a training plan one of these days...
ReplyDeleteThanks Erika! By the way, I love your icon! Admittedly I get a little nervous about designing my own training plans since I don't have a lot of expertise. It is nice to have something laid out as a guideline, though!
DeleteMy only comment is that on the days you only do one set instead of three that you increase your weight! But you probably already knew that :-) Alternately, if you want, you could try what I'm doing with my trainer right now which is 3-5 sets of 5 reps but only for four exercises (deadlifts, bench press, front squats and either pull-ups or military presses) at 80-90% of my one rep max.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you could probably start with 6 miles this week instead of jumping right into 8! And three days of running is perfect, in my opinion. Especially since one of them will be hill intervals!
To be honest, I did not think at all about increasing the weight on days that I only do one set! I love the 3-5 sets of 5 reps for the four exercises at 80-90%, too. And I am more than happy to run only 6 this week instead of 8. These are all really helpful suggestions - thanks so much!
DeleteIf you do go with one set I highly recommend that you go to failure. Which is my least favorite type of workout but apparently quite effective.
DeleteAllright, we'll have to talk more about this, but in general I ALWAYS go to failure. Even when I'm doing 3 sets. But just yesterday, I was at one of my company's strength-training series workshops, and our instructor also referenced doing sets where you end feeling like you can do more. I almost never end that way!
DeleteThis looks like a great plan!! Since I've added strength training to my training plans I've notice a big difference! Have fun on your cruise, too!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle! So glad to hear the strength training has been so beneficial for you, woo hoo!!!!! Keep it up!!!
DeleteI've never done hill training before but since I'm running Big Sur, I'll be adding that in this time. I have no idea what I'm doing.
ReplyDeleteWendy, you're such a powerhouse. You say you don't know what you're doing but I know that you are going to eat those hills for breakfast! =)
DeleteThis looks like a great plan with a good mix of other activities! I wish you good luck with the hill training -- something I technically haven't done but I do live in a hilly neighborhood. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteThanks HoHo! ABSOLUTELY living in a hilly neighborhood counts. This means you do your usual training runs on hills by default! That makes a big difference!
DeleteThat is so exciting that you're going on a weekend cruise!! I really need to plan something fun like that to look forward to and work towards. Can't wait to hear about it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alexandra! YES - we're in the worst part of the winter right now so it's definitely a nice morale-booster to plan something fun with family and friends. Having something to look forward to makes such a difference!
DeleteA great plan for you! I am so excited about your weekend cruise. Sounds like lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Perfect 10 race, I've done it once or twice in the past. I had no idea it was moved to the spring.
Thank you so much, Zenaida! I was surprised to hear the Perfect 10 got moved to the spring, too! I first learned about it maybe 10 days ago? It seems the race organizers are planning this in a hurry. Here's hoping the event runs smoothly!
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