***WARNING ~ THIS IS A FREAK OUT POST***
This is probably the worst most awful time of the year. I say this because finals are near, my time is precious, money is tight, and Christmas is right around the corner. How is a college student supposed to deal with all of this!?! AND THEN I go and make it worse by planning to run a half marathon in January.WTH was I thinking??
I wasn't. You're absolutely right. I wasn't thinking. At all. I thought I could do all of this and I really don't think I can. And...and...
That was my head exploding. Except I am not a man and I'm pretty sure I'd have a way more intense expression on my face. Just sayin'.
Okay, I'm done complaining. I just need to take one thing at a time. Money, for example, is always going to be tight. I will accept that fact. And Christmas presents are not going to be the most fabulous (it's really the thought that counts, seriously!!!) And finals are always near (they like being close, it makes them wanted...because nobody loves them...). and I will study my a** off, believe me.
It's that half marathon that keeps getting to me. I already paid for it, and I don't want to drop out. I want to do this. I know that when school gets out in 3 weeks, I'll have a ton of time to think and I'll keep telling myself that I should have done it. I won't let it get that far. It's going to happen.
The thing that is worrying me is injury. I hear all too often too fast, too soon usually leads to injury. I've been running 10 miles a week at least and I have 7 weeks before the half. The most I've run is 8 miles. I'm planning on a 10 miler next Saturday and 13-14 miler the Saturday after. Is too much before the race? I felt fine on my last 8 mile run (yesterday) with only a little bit of stiffness.
Miles: 8.12
Time: 1:41
Avg Pace: 12:28
I thought it went really well. I was actually going to push myself to run 10 but freaked out about injuring myself. There may be some currently injured bloggers out there to blame for my fear (but I won't name names). My knees only hurt for a short while afterwards. If anyone out thinks this is a terrible idea and sees some awful flaw in my plan....let me know! I'm not in a running group currently and I don't have anyone else to ask about this. Help a girl out. :)
Otherwise, life is pretty normal. I'll take things slow and one day at a time. :)
I would suggest to include some walk breaks during the long runs. This helps me to get my body used to the distance. I run 1 mile and walked for 1 min. If you google "Jeff Galloway's Run-walk method" you can read more about it. It really worked for me. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThe golden rule on mileage increase is 10% week over week. Will you break that with what you said above? If so, might want to think about making it a bit more gradual. I'm pretty injury prone, so I try to follow this as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to run a 13-14 miler. I would stick with 12 as your longest. It might seem odd, but it works. Beginning marathoners usually stop at a 20 mile in training and don't run the full 26.2 till the marathon. Works out perfectly fine :-)
ReplyDeleteListen to your body, walk when you need to and you'll have injury-free training and a good race :-)
Hey there! We'll exchanging holiday cards so I thought I'd come check out your blog. I'm you're newest follower. Can't wait to get readin' :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jamie! I just saw you are in my Christmas card exchange group, so I wanted to say hi! I look forward to getting to know you and reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Jamie! You're in my Christmas card exchange group and can't wait to read your blog!
ReplyDeleteSaw that you're doing Ragnar Del Sol next year. I just did Ragnar TN last month. IT. IS. AWESOME. Hoping to do 2 next year. :)
Just wanted to say hi!!! You are in my card exchange group!!!
ReplyDeleteHey there, just wanted to say hello and give you some words of encouragement. My training plan for the HM had us do a 10 miler as our longest training run. I didn't do it due to some bad planning on my part so our longest run was 9 miles. It was enough for us, so it could be enough for you too! I look forward to hearing how it goes!
ReplyDeleteHope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteKevin
http://halftriing.blogspot.com/