Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Spring 2015 Half Marathon training plan

Originally, my spring race calendar consisted entirely of events that I had registered for purely in the name of fun. Then, I unexpectedly won an entry to the Sunburst Race Series from Melanie's giveaway (thanks again, Melanie)! So what the heck - let's make the Sunburst Half a target race.


The June 6 race date, when I first heard about it, felt very far away. In reality, it's only 8 weeks from now. (Where has the year been going!?!?) Cue the mad scramble to put together some semblance of a training plan!


It was more challenging than anticipated to design a plan. This is for two reasons in particular:

1. Race Loading
I've got three races coming up during the next month:
  1. The CARA Live Grit 10-Miler this Saturday, April 18.
  2. The Race to Wrigley 10K next Saturday, April 25
  3. The Cinco de Miler on Saturday, May 9. 
The CARA 10-miler works well in my training schedule. However, the other two races make it tougher to do a long run those weekends.

I have heard of some folks in this situation adding extra miles either before or after their races. That doesn't sound very appealing to me, though. Therefore, I am planning my long runs on non-race weekends.

2. Travel bug
Next month, I'll be in Korea visiting Helen. On top of the sheer amount of time that I'll be on an airplane, I'm not sure how easy it will be to go running while I am there. Even if it is easy, I don't want to use up an entire morning on a long run when I could be hanging out with Helen.


With both of these factors in mind, here is what I came up with:


Legend:
  • The yoga sculpt, Zumba, and yoga are all classes that I take at my company's fitness center. 
  • The Friday strength is some weight-lifting that I do at home.
  • The 30-minutes speedwork refers to my go-to speed training workout. This includes a 10-minute warm-up, then alternating 1 minute at 5K race pace or faster with 1 minute of recovery. I do 10 repeats, then cool down.
  • The Pure Barre class this Sunday is me taking advantage of a weekend promotion for a free class.
  • U-pick can mean rest, cross-training, yoga, strength, or a few recovery miles.
Despite the thought process, this training plan is not the boss. I always give myself flexibility to change things up as needed for whatever reason. After all, I do this first and foremost to have fun!


What about you, what target races do you have on your radar screen right now? How is your training going so far this spring?

Linking up with AprilPatty, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run - the spring training edition!

24 comments:

  1. Yay for a target race! What is the target?!

    That is so cool your work has those classes!!!! :)

    Do you think you might try some HM focused speedwork?

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    1. Thanks, Kim! I am not sure how ambitious I want to be with the target, yet. My PR is the 2:13:51 that I ran with you at Prairie State last year, so I really just want to break that. I would LOVE to go for something sub 2:10, but I think that might be too challenging. Maybe sub 2:12? TBD.

      You know, I received a heart rate monitor when I was using a Garmin 305. I never used it with the 305, but it's supposed to be compatible with all Garmins. So I tried using it once a year or so ago with my 105. Either it's out of battery or it didn't synch with my 105 because it didn't work! So if I do want to try HM training, which is a great suggestion, I'll have to get some technical support!

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    2. I think sub 2:10 and 2:12 are great goals! :)

      Oh, sorry! I meant Half Marathon focused speedwork, not heart rate. :)

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    3. LOL. I actually don't know much about half marathon focused speedwork, so any suggestions would be great! I'm pretty green when it comes to speedwork in general. =)

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  2. My comment will sound like Kim's. (Great minds and all lol)

    It's nice to have a target race... I currently do not have one and feel a lack of focus because of it.

    That's amazing your company offers all those classes! You have quite the variety!

    Do you plan to take any rest days?

    I'll echo Kim and ask about any HM focused speedwork- like some longer intervals?

    It's nice to keep the perspective of being flexible with a training plan :) best of luck to you with this new race cycle!

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    1. Thanks for the good luck wishes, Xaar! You and Kim both have great minds, indeed! Agree with you on feeling like it's nice to have a training plan to stay focused. I read that you are thinking about trying for a new half marathon PR soon - please share more thoughts on that!

      I am very fortunate that my company devotes such a strong focus to well-being! I'm trying to take as much advantage of it as I can.

      I'm such a newbie when it comes to speedwork. Admittedly, long intervals intimidate me. I tried a tempo workout where I would warm up for one mile, then run two miles somewhere between 5K and 10K race speed, then cool down for one mile. I found that I like the shorter intervals much more. But speedwork is about pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, right?

      In terms of rest days, the yoga days are easy so I pretty much consider those to be rest days. And the u-pick days will probably end up being rest days more often than not. =)

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    2. I'm thinking of the volition half in early June on the lakefront. But I also need to add more long runs in, because I haven't gone over 7 miles in a while :) I'll write more about my training plan if I decide to do it. I'm rather apathetic about racing right now...

      I think slightly longer intervals will give you more bang for your speedwork buck. Like try 3 minute intervals with 1:30 recovery between instead of 1 minute intervals. Maybe start with 5-6 of them and each week add one or 2 until race day.

      I go back and forth on tempos or short intervals being my fav speedwork. They are all challenging!! And after I'm done I feel great.

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    3. You've definitely been killing it on the 5K training! I totally understand about feeling apathetic about racing (hence all the fun races and the last-minute target race for me!) Oooh, the Volition Half! I received some email notifications about it and it looks interesting!

      Thanks for the advice regarding doing longer intervals! I think I will try 3-minute intervals this week. This will be an adventure! And yes on all speedwork being challenging. I am always gritting my teeth while I am doing it, but it does feel AMAZING afterwards. For me, the hardest part is always just getting started!

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  3. Sounds like a plan to me. LOL. I think you are setting yourself up for a great Sunburst race. Like you, I don't like tacking on miles before or after a race. I feel it takes away from the race experience. Speed work is not so bad because I rest in between! I do either 600 meters or sometimes 1/2 miles. Good luck!

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    1. Thanks HoHo! YES on how extra miles before or after a race takes away from the race experience! I always want to just hang out and enjoy the atmosphere before and after. Logging extra miles would be incredibly difficult from a mental standpoint when everyone else around you is gathered and having fun! I agree that it makes a big difference in speed work when you rest in between the intervals. Go get 'em with the 600 meters or 1/2 miles! Woo hoo!

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  4. Good luck with your training. I like the "U-pick" days. I'll have to start using that terminology in my plans! :)

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    1. Thanks Pete! Please do share your training plans for your upcoming races, too! And YES on the U-Pick. I think everyone likes having choices, so it's nice to give ourselves that flexibility when we are training. =)

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  5. Yay! I'll see you this weekend at the Cara 10! This swimming thing has dominated all waking moments for me so far this year. Running is very much on the back burner until I get these tris out of the way. As a result I am rather ill-prepared for racing at the moment. How great you won the Sunburst! Congrats!

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    1. YAY! See you this weekend! Incidentally, I have started stalking the weather forecast and the latest predictions are that it's going to run. UGH!!! But hey, if it does rain, that gives us something else to blame if things don't go well that day, right? =D

      BTW - thanks for sharing that ASICS sweepstakes!!! What an amazing giveaway!

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  6. I'm glad that you're allowing flexibility in the plan (e.g. rest days can happen when necessary). I'm curious - are the two rest days actually scheduled in when you're flying? I also can't wait to hear more about Korea... I loved the brief time I was there (20 hour layovers that we had on our way to Vietnam several years ago!)

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    1. Ahhh, Lauren, you are very perceptive! YES - the scheduled rest days are indeed the days that I will flying! Too bad these planes don't have treadmills or fitness centers on board, right? Ooooh, I love lengthy international layovers! Would love to hear more about what you got to see while you were in Korea! And speaking of Vietnam, I've never been there either. It's high on my list, too - so would love to hear more about that, as well!

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  7. Officially, I'm targeting the Chicago Spring Half right now, in the sense that that's the half marathon I'm training for. But I don't have any real goals for that race other than completion. More than anything, it was a way of forcing myself to build my mileage BEFORE marathon season this year, instead of waiting UNTIL marathon season like I have for the past two years. Poor life choices. I'm not sure what to do with next weekend, though. I have Ravenswood on Sunday, and I would like to do fairly well at Ravenswood, which means nixing my Saturday long run...but I also know I am NOT going to want to go run an additional eight miles after running a 5K! Unless I waited a really long time to recover, but thinking of working up all that motivation...unlikely. I guess since I don't particularly care about the Spring Half, it's not THAT big of a deal, but it sure feels like a big deal :P

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    1. I totally hear you on how racing is a great way to get motivated to build up the miles. The F^3 Half helped me stay on track a LOT during the dead of the winter. That is really a conundrum with Ravenswood next weekend! If it were me personally in the situation, I would probably skip the long run and just focus on Ravenswood. You can do a long run any other weekend, but how often does Ravenswood happen, I say. But I do understand that it's frustrating to skip the long run. I'm looking at going two consecutive weekends in May without a long run, and I'm not thrilled about it, either. But yeah, I would say just let loose and have a good time at the Chicago Spring Half. Most of us do better with target races in the fall, anyways, right?

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  8. My next races will be at Disneyland in May. Sadly because of an injury, none of them will be Target races! Good luck on yours though!

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    1. You're running Tinker Bell? AHHHH, so excited for you! I've heard amazing things about that race (and really all of the Disney races). And I say that nobody should ever try to race a Disney race anyways. When you rush through, you lose out on all the magic and fun that is the Disney race experience! So all the more reason to just have fun and enjoy yourself there. =)

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  9. Looks like we need to meet up at CARA this weekend! I'm planning on enjoying my Lagunitas IPA after the race...that's where I'll be.... :)

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    1. YES, so cool to hear that you'll be at the CARA 10-miler this weekend! I will definitely look for you in the Lagunitas area after finishing!!! Fingers crossed that the weather holds up for us all!!!

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  10. Looks like a just-right training plan. This also reminds me that I need to make my own training calendar! Eek!

    I really like that you ended by saying that it needs to be fun. Amen! Sometimes I need to be reminded of that. Running is supposed to be fun, not just work!

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    1. Thanks Amy!!! Ooooh, please do share your training calendar once you've got it set! I am SO EXCITED for you to run Twin Cities this year. You are going to nail it!!!

      Yes, I need to frequently be reminded that we run primarily for fun! Can you imagine how different it would be if we were professional runners that HAD to do this training? We're lucky to not have that kind of pressure on us!!!

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