That’s the goal – run a half marathon in under 2 hours before I turn 40. I’m currently 38 years old and I have decided this spring I’m making it happen.
Are you interested in running a half-marathon too? If so, keep reading to hear what I have learned throughout my research – maybe you’ll find a little nugget for yourself. I’m excited to write an updated post after race day and see how this holds up. But for now… this is my plan.
Full disclosure, I have ran two half-marathons back in 2010. So it’s been a few years. One went well (& under two hours) and the other one didn’t go so great. In my research, I’m also recalling my past experience.
Twelve weeks appears to be the sweet spot for training. I’m currently 13 weeks away from the race I have selected and I spent this weekend typing up a training plan. It’s go time next Monday. This week I’ll continue running and cross training a few days. I’ve been running my miles right around 9-10 minutes so I do have a lot of work to do. Especially considering it’s been a long time since I’ve ran more than 5 miles. I know a lot of experts recommend you should have recently ran a 10K as a base before your half-marathon training, but I think I’ll be okay. This last sentence might come back to haunt me. 🙂
Let’s take a look at what I came up with for the training plan.
MONDAY
Starting the week day off with a rest day will be an adjustment for me – you know, #nevermissaMonday?!! It’s a thing, it really is! But after my long run on Sunday I think I’ll look forward to it.
TUESDAY
In order to run a half-marathon in under 2 hours, I’ll need to focus on an average race pace of 9:09. Tuesday I’ll do just that!
WEDNESDAY
I’m looking forward to Wednesday – weights are my jam. The plan is to focus on full body here. We’ll see how it goes.
THURSDAY
This is when I’ll be tackling intervals. My plan is to do a mile warm-up run and then hit the intervals. 800 meters at full effort followed by a 400 meter recover and repeat. Follow the reps up with another mile cool-down run.
FRIDAY
Another good ol’ rest. Most of my training will take place after work and Friday’s we do family movie night. This rest day will align nicely.
SATURDAY
For the last few years, a few of us have been doing a Bible study while running Saturday mornings. We have been doing about 2.5 miles lately. I mentioned this past Saturday my goal to run this half and I think this won’t be a problem to get the 3 miles in.
SUNDAY
Here is the long run! Slow and steady. Through my research, you really want to stick to the slow and steady to help you get those final miles in on race day.
Now repeat all of that for the next 12 weeks and I’ll be ready for race day.
Here’s a couple other things I’m considering/remembering for this training.
TWO PAIRS OF SHOES
I guess shoes don’t last forever and I’m guilty of keeping running shoes for too long. I have two pairs ready to go. One I’ll be wearing on the treadmill and one I’ll use for outdoor runs. This will allow me to wear a pair of broken in pair, yet do not have too many miles on them, on race day. Here’s the pair I’ll be running with – Brooks Women’s Ghost 14 Neutral Running Shoe.
NO NEW CLOTHES ON RACE DAY
I’m going to play around with my race day apparel on my long Sunday runs. The recommendation is to not wear clothes you haven’t ran in before.
I’m sure when I write another post in 13 weeks after I have this half in the books I’ll have more to cover. For now, this is what I’ve got! Wish me luck.
