Ever since I
signed up for the Philly Half Marathon, I've been both excited and a little concerned. You see, I love fall for many reasons, not the least of which is
college football season.
How could I fit in long runs for a half marathon and still manage to hit up all of the Big Ten football games this fall? Michigan has home weekend games every weekend in September and a few in October. Given my passion for tailgating, I knew Saturday and Sunday long runs were out of the question.
So here's
the plan I came up with (click to bring up in Google Docs). I based the plan mostly off of Hal Higdon's
Intermediate half marathon training program (love Hal's plans-- I've used them for all of my races!).
A few other things I'm trying to incorporate this time around:
-
Speedwork. In order to achieve my next PR, I need to ramp it up on the speed workouts! Last night I did my first one: 5x400m (0.25 mile) at 5K pace (8:40min/mi) with rests in between. Hurts so good.
-
Extra/'junk' mileage. I'm hoping by adding another day of running per week, I'll become more fit, and thus faster when the race comes around.
-A few
longer runs. Most half training plans have you build up to 10 miles or 11 miles before the race, and that's it. While that was great for my first two half marathons, I know I need a bit more distance under my belt to rock 13.1 in Philly this time around.
By placing my long runs on Monday and focusing on quality workouts during the week, I have given myself clearance to have a great time on football Saturday's and recovery on Sunday.
Bring it on, September. And
GO BLUE!
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ReplyDeleteKaitlin,
ReplyDeleteI just started reading your blog after finding it from Tina's "blogger hook up" post. I went to Michigan too and am a big football fan! I'm training for a half (my first!) in October so my plan for the next few weeks is to get an early long run in on Saturday and then go watch the game, but I was actually thinking during my run today how that's not even an option when you live in AA because the streets are already too crowded to run at 7am! Good luck with your training and enjoy the football saturdays!
Becca
Hi Becca!
ReplyDeleteCool! Do you have a blog? I can't find it through your blogger profile. Congrats on training for your first half! And you're right, it's super crowded in A2 on football game days! But Sundays are still an option for sure.
thanks for stopping by!
-Kaitlin
Hey Kaitlin,
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a blog-I had created one just for myself a while ago and apparently the computer still remembered it (and i couldn't figure out how to comment without a name!) Hope you had fun at the very wet looking game last weekend!
Becca