Bayshore Half Marathon Training: Weeks 0-2

I made my training plan a while ago and included some weeks before the "official" half marathon training commenced. I have a column for week number and I had all those weeks marked as "0" and then the actual plan is 14 weeks. I totally was not following the pre-training and then I misread it and started at the last week "0" so essentially it is now a 15 week plan numbered 0-14.

The good news is that I have completed all the scheduled runs for the first three weeks as scheduled. The bad news (at least for me) is that I have completed them all on the treadmill. I could complain more about treadmill running, but all I am going to say is that I am thankful that I have it as an option when the temperatures are low (I don't run below 35*F) and/or there is snow/ice on the ground (aka always.. it hasn't stopped snowing this winter).

Half Marathon Training Weeks 0-2

The above is how I completed the weeks; it is not 100% as scheduled because that would be too much to ask. I sometimes make changes at the beginning of the week to account for my schedule or just as I go along. I might talk later about the paces I have been aiming for and my goal paces for an upcoming 5k and the half marathon, but as of now I have been doing way better than expected at my targeted paces and am quite thrilled about it!

Unofficial 5k PR on the Treadmill

The above was from the Monday week 2 run. I started out doing intervals of .4 fast and .1 rest after a half mile warm up. I don't remember the speeds I was using but somewhere around halfway I realized if I kicked it up a bit I could complete 3.1 miles in under 25 minutes... so that's what I did.

One more note on training so far: I know it is very running heavy (6 days a week) and very lacking in strength and cross training. I have some plans for working those in and cutting back to 4-5 days of running a week in the next couple of weeks, especially after my planned 5k on the 16th of March.

And in that same vain, I am very supportive of taking a rest day when your body is worn out and your muscles need the extra time to recover. Not just because you would rather sit on the couch and watch TV while eating the amazing So Delicious Cookie Dough "coconut milk frozen dessert" you just discovered than get your but out the door or on the treadmill. Not that I've even considered that one...