With the Moms RUN This Town virtual half marathon behind me, I thought it might be worthwhile to say a few words about how I trained for the event, because my training was – by necessity – a little different this time around than it has been in the past.  Usually, when I am training for a race (and I mean really training, not just running for giggles, which is something I only do with 5Ks) I like to run three to four days per week, rest one day, and mix in cross-training and yoga to fill out the rest of the week.  That’s a formula that has worked for me in the past and has led to me successfully completing a ten mile race and a half marathon, as well as a number of shorter distance races (5Ks, 8Ks and 10Ks).

Although there was no set start and finish line, I wanted to treat the MRTT virtual half like a real race, and train for it.  As I mentioned in the recap, there was no requirement that runners complete their chosen distance in one go – you had all month to get the distance done, and all the group asked was that you complete it in a way that challenged you.  But I really wanted to bang out the entire 13.1 in one shot, so I knew I needed to train.  I had a couple of issues, though, that meant I couldn’t train the way I had in the past:

• I am restricted in the times I can run outside.  I am only able to get outside for a run if hubby is home to watch Peanut, or if the weather is nice enough for me to take her with me in the stroller.  That means that, once in a blue moon, Peanut and I are able to get out for a jog together, but usually, I’m only able to run on the weekends.  (I go during Peanut’s naptime so that I don’t miss any awake time.)  It’s dark in the mornings before hubby leaves for work and in the evenings when he gets home and I don’t know the safe streets here well enough, yet, to feel confident running alone in the dark, so I don’t go.
• I am restricted in the places I can run outside.  There is a big park not too far away with a well-maintained ring road that is generally clear and dry (or at least, reliably plowed to a packed snow surface), and is the best place to run at the moment.  Running in the neighborhoods is possible, although not pleasant, because not everyone is diligent about shoveling their sidewalks.  (You can only pretend to be running on the beach for so long before you have to get real with yourself.)  If I’m on my own, I can power through, but the same areas are impassible with the stroller.  So if I want to get a run in with Peanut, we have to drive to the park or another well-maintained trail to get it done.
• I have no access to my treadmill.  I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be longingly caressing my treadmill, but it’s here.  I bought it back in 2011 when I was training for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run, so that I could use it early in the mornings as an alternative to running in my neighborhood (where sidewalks were sporadic and street lights almost nonexistent).  It was a great tool and a big part of my success in completing that race.  (I didn’t use it as much for half marathon training, because I was training in the late spring and it was light enough to run outdoors at 5:30 a.m.)  I could really use my treadmill right about now, but it’s in storage in my garage (which is detached from the house and has no power source).  The movers were unable to get it into the house (just one of the many areas where they were kind of bumbling and useless, but that’s another story), hubby and I can’t shift it ourselves, and hiring fitness equipment specialists to bring it inside is not in the budget.  So I am currently sans treadmill, shooting pathetic looks at the empty floor space in the sunroom, where I’d planned to put the treadmill… and resigning myself to the fact that as long as I live in this house, I’m running outdoors or not at all.  (I suppose if I get really desperate, I could get a gym membership… but that’s not really in the budget either.)

These factors combined mean that I can’t count on more than two running days (Saturday and Sunday) per week.  I might get in one or two weekday runs if I’m lucky and the weather cooperates, but there’s no guarantee of that.  Two days of running is not really enough to train for a race – especially not a long one like a half marathon – but it’s what I had to work with and I had to figure something out.  I approached my training plan with a couple of principles in mind:

• Long runs are the most important workout of the week.  If there’s one thing that all the experts tell you, it’s that when you’re training for a long-distance race, you MUST NOT BAIL on the long runs.  If you get only one thing done in a week, make it your long run.  You can jettison speedwork and hill training and easy miles if you must, but you MUST do the long run.  So I knew that if I was doing two runs per week, one of those two runs had to be a long run.
• Anytime I could squeeze in an additional run, I should.  If the weather is nice enough for me to take Peanut out, I will absolutely ditch my other workout plans and take advantage of the opportunity to run.  Any additional running I can do will benefit me.  (Obviously, there comes a point when you’re running too much.  No one should run seven days a week.  But there was no way I was getting to that point given my current constraints.  In my case, this “rule” meant that I might get a couple of three- or four-run-weeks in over the course of training, which is still not that much if you’re preparing for a race.  As it happened, that only occurred once toward the beginning of my half marathon training, and then the Polar Vortex swept in and put an end to mom-and-baby running for the rest of the training cycle.)
• Anything I can do to improve my strength and endurance will help me run better.  I find myself stuck indoors a lot these days.  But that’s no excuse to be lazy!  If I can’t go out and run, I can still do things to grow stronger and more fit, and those workouts count on race day, too.  They might not be “as good” as running (remember, I’m talking about race preparation here – I don’t think other types of exercise are inferior to running, but when you’re training for a race, you’ve got to run!), but they’re better than nothing.  So I dipped into my stash of Jillian Michaels DVDs, or did calisthenics and strength training workouts while watching TV, or used my set of CRUNCH cardio dance DVDs (hilariously, since I have all the grace of a drunken hedgehog) – anything to get my heart rate up and build endurance.

With those principles in mind, I experimented and tinkered until I came up with a workout routine that fit my needs and enabled me to have the endurance I needed to run 13.1 miles two Saturdays ago:

• Sunday: long run.  (I started at 5 miles and worked my way up, increasing distance by a mile every week or two, until my last
  “pre-race” long run of 10 miles.  I had actually planned to do an 11 mile run too, but I was getting burnt out on winter training – running the same loop around the park five times in a row gets old after a few weeks – and Hal Higdon says that if you can run 10 miles, you can run 13.1.  I trust Hal.)
• Monday: yoga for runners.  There’s a free 20-minute class on YogaDownload.com, and I found it was a great way to stretch out my sore muscles the day after a long run.
• Tuesday: strength and conditioning / circuit training.  Sometimes this meant doing a Jillian DVD (like “Extreme Shed ‘n Shred”) or one of her free workouts on the Lionsgate BeFit YouTube channel (best discovery ever!); other times it meant just doing any strength exercise that came into my head for a set period of time.
• Wednesday: cardio – usually kick-boxing, but sometimes circuit training, dance or calisthenics, whatever I feel like doing.  (Usually what I feel like doing is kick-boxing.  I really like kick-boxing.)  If I can fold some strength training into the workout, so much the better.
• Thursday: REST.
• Friday: circuit training, either on my own or attending a Stroller Strides class.
• Saturday: run.  I never have a set run planned for Saturday.  Sometimes I feel like doing speedwork (although I need dry pavement for that).  Other times I want to just get in some easy miles (to keep things fun).  I go with the flow and do whatever the heck I want to do, as long as I’m running.

As I said above, this was a fluid “training plan” – rest days could get shuffled around, and other workouts could get dropped if a running opportunity presented itself.  I also might switch my long run from Sunday to Saturday if the weather forecast looked better on Saturday – that’s what happened on half marathon day, as a matter of fact.  (Running three miles in the rain or snow is doable.  Running eight is… also doable, but five miles less pleasant.)

(Please note: I am definitely NOT an expert!  This is just a routine I came up with that met my own needs, based on my own personal goals and constraints.  I also know that it’s far from an ideal training plan for an event like a half marathon, which is a long distance and a big deal.  I’m sharing my training because I don’t talk much about it on this blog, and I don’t want to give the impression that I approach any races without preparing for them first, as best I can.  Do what feels right for YOU, not for me or anyone else.  And it probably goes without saying, but check with your doctor before you start any kind of workout routine.  Especially if you’re pregnant or have a medical condition.  Safety first!)

So… did it work?  Well… I’d have to say that it did!  On the day I chose to do the virtual race, I was able to step out of my door feeling prepared and knowing that I did everything I could to make this run a good one.  I had plenty of long runs under my belt, I had experience running on the snowy surface around the park, and I’d stuck to my workout routine fairly consistently.  I didn’t have a time goal going into the run; although I was hoping to beat my PR (personal record) from my last half marathon, I knew I was running under sub-optimal conditions (-5 degrees, and 95% of the run on frozen surfaces with no Yak Trax on my shoes – they don’t make them small enough to fit me – is far from ideal).  But midway through the run, when it seemed to be going fairly well, I thought to myself, “I think I can do this in under 2:40!”  And… I did.  My final time (2:37:02) gives me a lot of pride, a good number to beat next time, and a shot of confidence that I can shave even more time off the next half marathon.

Speaking of which…  Now that I’m no longer sore, I’m thinking about what’s next.  I’m the type of person who likes to have a goal to work for, and I have a few fun events coming up.  At the moment I’m participating in my Stroller Strides’ group’s “Mom Olympics” and thinking about picking up some spinning classes at a studio a few blocks from my house.  (Living in the city again does have some advantages!)  And next week I’ll have a post about the races and events I’m targeting for the rest of 2014.  I’m excited!