Tag Archives: half marathon

The SF Half Marathon Training Plan

May 25, 2011

Good news! After a solid chunk of rest, ice, foam roll, ice and foam roll some more, my hip is starting to make a come back! I have since taken it out of two, five mile runs and I’m happy to report no issues. I’m especially happy that I listened to my body and didn’t beat myself up over taking time to rest and prevent further injury. If you’re in the same boat, PLEASE listen to your body and give it a lil’ R&R.

While it was great that the hip got some R&R, I did fall behind my SF half training plan. However, training plans are never something that are set in stone. Instead, it’s an evolving document that moves with you and your life. Thus, I’ve updated mine and one of the biggest changes I made was removing swimming. While this is still a goal I want to achieve, I need to focus on the appropriate training and not try to overdo anything.

So without further ado, I present to you my San Francisco Half Marathon training plan. I created this plan based off of an advanced Cool Running plan and adjusted it a bit to work for myself. As you can see, there is a combination of strength, speed, hills, tempo and long runs.

Strength on Monday’s will mostly focus on upper body and light lower body work.
Tuesdays are all about speed work.
Wednesday and Thursdays are essentially running however I feel. Usually mid-week I’m pretty swamped at work and getting the miles in becomes difficult. Thus, these will be the days that I listen to my body and run how I see fit.
Fridays are tempo or hill runs. The first number indicates overall mileage. The number in the parenthesis indicates the amount that is to be run at tempo pace.
Sundays are usually my long runs, but as you can see I swapped some of them around due to personal commitments.
Each of the strength and speed days are just listed as “Speed X” because I sort of make those up each week and then I can track them on a different chart by saying, Speed 1: XYZ workout.
Throughout the week I also have “Core” or “100 PU” listed. “Core” indicates ab work and “100 PU” is me attempting to do the 100 push up plan – but please don’t hold your breath on that one.

So there you have it folks…10 weeks of training until the SF half marathon! Oh, and only nine weeks until my wedding. HOLY CRAP!

Happy Running!

14 Comments | Posted in Training

The Surf City Half Marathon & A New PR

February 6, 2011

WARNING: This post is full of cheese. The uber-cheese that may make you uncomfortable or wonder when my endorphins are actually going to start wearing off. This cheese is courtesy of getting off my ass and digging deep a.k.a. my Surf City half marathon race report.

On Friday I talked about how the work week had kicked my butt, steam rolled over me and almost forced me to forgo my southern California adventure. I wanted more than anything to just stay in bed and do absolutely nothing. However, as part of my 2011 (and 2010!) resolution, I vowed to ensure that I live life to its fullest and not pass up an experience or opportunity that may come my way. Thus, it was off to Huntington Beach I went.

Saturday was awkwardly perfect. I’m not used to traveling by myself or spending an entire day by myself in a new city for that matter. So I set out to explore, visit the expo and find an outfit for my trip to New York next week (more on that later). My early morning flight meant that I would get to the expo and beach as the surfers will still catching waves and the crowds at the expo were minimal (if not non-existent). It was beautiful to say the least.

I saw tweets complaining about the line at the expo, the heat and the horrible parking, but if you want to have a pain free experience similar to that of mine, GO EARLY! Easy parking, no lines, I got the shirt, the bag and the samples that I wanted to all under 20 minutes. After the expo, I let the girl in me reign free: I went shopping, got my nails done, tried Susie’s Cupcakes for the first time and went to dinner with the girls. Don’t judge…it was fantastic.

Let’s skip ahead 12 hours. One bowl of oatmeal, one banana, and one sweet parking spot later, I met up with Danica, Tara and Maritza to get this show on the road. It was race time.

I had set out to simply run under 1:50 as my body was still exhausted and I wasn’t in the mood to give it my all. But when I saw my corral (which is apparently based on time) right after the elites, it hit me. I spent how much money, time and effort to come all the way to southern California and now because I’m tired I’m not going to give it my all? HELLO! Who is this person? It sure as hell wasn’t someone I recognized. I’m always the person that is telling my friends that if you want something, it isn’t going to just come to you, you’re going to have to work for it. So about 120 seconds before the horn blew, I decided that I was going to work for it, dammit.

The marine layer provided the perfect temperature and despite a lack of crowd support, the energy was redolent. Mile one, solid. Mile two, moving quickly. Mile three through five, I can feel my legs starting to rumble and question the speed. Miles five through 13, I started digging. I dug, I dug, and I dug some more.

By no means was this race easy for me. The out and back course was a bit stale and the subtle hills were just enough to give you a run for your money. I felt my body working hard the entire time and it was 13.1 miles of mental motivation. You know how they say that running is 40% physical and 60% mental? This one was more like 90% of full, mental determination.

My heart was pumping hard the entire time and my legs got heavier with each mile. But something within me refused to submit to the pain and instead was propelled forward by the possibility of a new PR. Every step felt like I was digging into my strength to find the speed I need to PR. I literally dug, dug, and dug some more. I dug until 13 miles rolled around and finished the last .1 on pure adrenaline. I don’t know where it came from, but I set a new PR.

13.1 miles
1:31:48
6:57 avg. pace
2nd in my age group
29th female
210th overall

I crossed the finish line with what felt like a ridiculous grin. Added bonus? They have ridiculously cute medals!

People say that sometimes things come “out of nowhere.” While this can be true, I think that we don’t give ourselves enough credit. If you want something bad enough, the only bad ass that’s going to make it happen is you. So get out there and get ‘er done! I hope everyone had a great weekend and don’t forget to tell Danica and Keri congrats on their engagements!

Happy running!

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Day 40: Rest
Day 41: 13.1 miles

29 Comments | Posted in Races

Exhaustion, Motivation & A New Toy

February 4, 2011

I won’t lie. This week has been tough. I’ll spare you the details and leave it at I’m simply exhausted. Training was minimal as other priorities called. The runs that I did get it felt as if I was just sloshing out the miles to get them done. At this point, I honestly wouldn’t mind crawling into bed and staying there the entire weekend.

But, that’s just not going to happen, now is it? When I lose a bit of hope and begin to seriously lack motivation, one of the best inspiration is YOU GUYS! Creeping…err…reading your blogs is the best inspiration a gal can find! What are your favorite blogs to read for inspiration? (P.S. If you have a Blogger blog that has comments in line with your post – i.e. not in a pop-up window – my computer is going crazy and won’t let me comment. Sorry about that!)

After a solid commute hour home reading your blogs, I’m ready to take on the weekend. Tomorrow morning I’ll be heading to SoCal for the Surf City Half Marathon and to meet up with my lady friends. I originally had lofty goals of perhaps squashing my half marathon PR, but at this point, I am just aiming for anything under 1:50 and to simply enjoy my time in the warm weather.

I haven’t been back to this part of SoCal since Chicken Face and I got engaged; thus, I’m sure this trip will be a bit reminiscent, event though he won’t be with me.

Also, I’m bringing my new toy (taaa-daa….a Nikon D90…and yes, I took a photo of a nice camera with my cell phone) so hopefully I can capture something better than iPhone photos for this here lil’ blog. Do you know of any cute yet functional camera bags? I’m on the hunt for one now…