Running 13.1 miles: Half marathon training in full swing

Half marathon training is in full swing.

woman running outdoors for half marathon training

I am still getting in the groove of running several days a week. It’s a balance of dealing with running and the soreness of strength training.

Mother Nature, or better yet Hurricane Florence, threw a monkey wrench into my training last week and this past weekend. But I’m moving forward. The only distance I’m going to “make-up” will be the long run that should have happened on Sunday.

Hal Higdon half training

I am running three days a week with one additional day of cardio, which is on the stairmill. I modified one of Half Higdon’s plans to fit my off season body building goal.

I am running Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is my long day. I like Sunday being my long day because it won’t interfere with many plans and I can also just take myself to lie in the sauna that afternoon to help with the sore muscles that will be a part of training.

My stairmill day will be Thursdays, cause it is also a strength training day with my coach. I didn’t want to do too much running on days with my coach but I still need to get in the movement.

Strength training five days a week

Three days of strength training with my coach three days a week has resumed. I took three weeks off after the last show to rest, recover and spend time with family. But now is the time to get back in the gym and work on improving my physique for the 2019 season.

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday you can find me at 803 Fitness. I will most likely strength train on my own on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

My goal is to really let Friday be my full rest day. I can stretch but no running, cardio or strength training. Rest is an important part of improving and recovery.

Why train for a half marathon now?

half marathon training on the river

I needed something for me. It’s been more than three years since I’ve laced up my running shoes for a half marathon.

So, when my teammate and fitness sister mentioned the race I didn’t need a lot of convincing.

We are running the St. Augustine half marathon in November. Why this one?

  • It’s Florida
  • Banking on pretty scenery
  • Nice weather
  • Driveable distance to race

One of the things that I live about my coach is that she understands that sometimes we need something else to light the fire. So, I told her I needed to get just one in this fall.

As soon as the race is over I will hang my running sneakers back up. She pulled running in April and switched my cardio up. I went three months without running until like two weeks before my one and only 5K for the year.

I want to see how much faster I have gotten. I know I am stronger.

I can already tell that my strength has me faster in shorter distances. But we’ll see what happens when race day gets here.

I don’t have a set race time to beat, per se. I have an idea what I would like to run. But as I mentioned I haven’t run a half marathon in more than three years so there’s no telling what the final outcome will be.

Destination races

I love a good racecation.

running half marathon in raleigh

This race isn’t really a racecation. It is in Florida but it’s not like other places I have run.

We have been to a few cool places like Miami and Puerto Rico. We’ve also been closer to home like Raleigh, Atlanta, Charlotte and Charleston. This half marathon is just a let’s get out of town and run for the weekend.

I do have a few other destination races that I would like to do. But right now bodybuilding takes precedent over running.

A couple of those that may never happen include Big Sur, Hood to Coast relay, Ragnar Del Sol, SeaWheeze in Canada and I heard you just have a good time when you run Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans. If I never get to do another destination race, I will be OK. After this half marathon I just need to redeem my full marathon debacle. That is scheduled for Dec 2019.

Where would be your favorite destination race?

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