Training - 13 Weeks Till 1/2 Marathon
So as I mentioned in my last post, I am running a half-marathon. My goal at this stage is just to finish and to keep a steady pace the whole time; my best time for a 10K was around 55 minutes, but that was quite a while ago. Actually, it wasn't that long ago, but it was pre-pregnancy, childbirth and extreme sleep deprivation, so I am thinking 2.25 to 2.5 hours is a realistic goal for me.
My training strategy is slightly slacker - I am aiming at 3 runs a week, plus yoga as my cross-training. I'll be trying to do a briefer pace run during the week as well as some hill intervals or "fartleks". During these runs I'll have the stroller. Then on the weekend I'll do one longer run, which I'll do solo. This routine roughly coincides with a training schedule I found in a magazine.
So here is what the magazine suggested, and how I modified it for my own needs:
Monday - 1/2 hour "hilly run"
On this run I realised that running with a stroller is a heck of a lot of work. I was running uphill at one point and I realised that I was not actually gaining on the 2 60-year old leisure walkers ahead of me. Oh well, I figure stroller plus baby is about 40lb, give or take, so that's got to mean something, right? I aimed for three tens and ones (ten minutes running, one walking), but I was really tired by the last one, so it got broken up into a four and one and a six and one.
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday- Hill running - 10 minute warm up and then 4 2-minute hill repeats
Should not have eaten that cupcake right before the run. I wasn't able to run straight for 2 minutes on the hills. Instead of 4 2-minute stretches, I did 6 1-minute stretches with breaks in between. In my defence, the hill was really, really steep. And again, pushing a stroller was killin' me. My heart rate was well over 180 at times. Over all I was out for about 40 minutes but probably only 20 minutes of that was running. The rest of the time was raggedly trying to catch my breath. I will probably try hills that are less steep next time.
Thursday - Optional
1.25 hours of yoga - It was a Hatha day, so lots of nice deep stretches - great on those hamstrings. Given that it's been less than six months since I gave birth and I am still full-time breastfeeding, I still have lots of relaxin in my body, so it's very important to stretch. At least that's how I justify yoga over more running.
Plans for the weekend: 1.25 hour Yin/Yang Yoga and 1 hour run