On Thursday we ran the 4mile Turkey Trot. It was a really nice way to start the day of eating that is Thanksgiving and we had a lot of fun at the race … good crowds and energy, EXCELLENT weather! I completed it at a 12 min/mile pace. It is respectable (running for me, a jog for my long-legged hubby), but not at all fast. The bummer is that when I ran the Title 9K (on my second mama’s day), my pace for a much hillier course was around 10 min/mile. With a jogging stroller. Including the 10 min or so where we got stuck in the back and couldn’t pass anyone until we off-roaded. So I am not feeling awesome about this. It has been much harder for me to get back into shape after having Ben. I know part of it is that I get terrible sleep right now. Ben still wakes up at least once a night … some nights, like the night before last, he wakes up far more often. I’m sure our generally crazy (and, let’s face it, slightly stressful) life right now doesn’t help either.
But all of that jazz aside, we are committed to running a half-marathon in April. On Ben’s first birthday, actually. The Country Music Half Marathon, to be exact. After our Turkey Trot this past week, I read up on the event and I’m actually pretty psyched for it. Everyone rates the event very well. They say it’s well organized and they also have live music all along the course which should keep you pretty motivated. I also think that running near sea-level (as opposed to our thin-aired elevation of around 1 mile) will be a nice little extra benefit. Extra extra bonus is that we will have some great people to run (or at least start) with. My sister and brother in law and our Vandy friend, Patrick, are all planning to join us … it will be the first half marathon for all, I believe, except maybe Bryan (BIL), who was in the army and can probably do the whole marathon with a 20 pound pack on his back. I think we will definitely need some kickass team shirts (Zazzle apparently prints custom designs on tech t’s, so that’s cool).
Soooooo … looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me. I need to go from being able to run 4 miles to being able to run 13.1 … by the end of April. It’s a leeeetle intimidating. But I have a plan. Well, actually, I’m borrowing plans from the greatness that is THE INTERNET. There are quite a few “training for your first half-marathon” schedules out there, believe it or not, and I am going to pick one and git ‘er done. Here’s the awesome part: they are all 12 week programs! That means I don’t have to even start them until the end of January. Huzzzzah! Though I was tempted, I will not be completely abandoning the objective of healthy eating and giving up my exercise regime. I will still be doing my best, but it is excellent to know that I can relax just a bit over the holidays and not be so focused on training. • Shannon Albert’s excellent guide for couch to half-marathon
• my heart rate monitor watch that I lurve (it’s green, people!)
• Sat Sports Log, a great little Android app that uses the phone’s GPS to track your run
• a plug for Road Runner, my favorite running store (their VIP program is a great deal)
Good luck Jess! You can do eeeeeeeet!
Hi Jess,
I got notified on my blog that you linked to me from this blog post but I'm not seeing it right now. My top blog post is about training for a half marathon so that would make sense (I've linked it at the bottom of this comment).
I wanted to offer you some encouragement for your training. I think working up to the first 3 miles might be the hardest. I would encourage you to get realllly comfortable with running 3 miles 3 times per week before starting the half marathon training schedule. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to help.
Couch to half marathon in less than 6 months
Scratch that. I see now where you click on links and see the links you've posted. I didn't notice that the last time I looked.