It’s time to plan the first month of Energy City Half Marathon training. Check out my goals and how I’m approaching the first four weeks.
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New year, new goals, right?! Definitely. 😉 There is only one half marathon in my region — The Energy City Half Marathon. Last year, I ran the 10K, but this year I wanted to go all in. When they pushed out a discount code right around Christmas, I figured I should go ahead and sign up, so I did!
Today, I wanted to share a quick overview of my training plan for the first four weeks, as well as my goals for training!
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In my last round of training, I followed a Jeff Galloway plan. The run/walk/run was great, but the 18-week cycle was too much for me. I hit burn out about 12 weeks in, so this time I’m going with a 12-week plan. I meshed together a plan of my own from Hal Higdon’s HM3 and his Intermediate 2 plans. The mileage ramps up pretty quickly, but I’m ready for it!
I know I have to keep my workouts varied to keep the boredom at bay, so I’m working in strength as I always do. I will probably pull two-a-days a couple of days a week, but if I can’t fit it all in, that’s ok. An ideal week would have me hitting every body part in some way or another twice, with a day of active rest in the form of yoga. Two things I want to work on in my strength workouts as well as running workouts are A) core activation, and B) glute/hamstring activation. These are both physical weaknesses I have that play a huge role in my effectiveness as a runner. I recognize this and I plan to work toward improving them and hopefully improve my performance as a runner overall.
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Another goal I have for this training cycle is to give myself grace. I hope to do this by planning my workouts at the beginning of each week and trying not to stress if I don’t hit every single workout. My type-A doesn’t leave a lot of room for grace, so I know that’s going to be a work in progress. 🙂
I started Monday (talk about a Happy New Year!), so check back on Sunday for an update on how the first week of training went.
Question: Do you have any spring races on your calendar?
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I have a lot of races already on my calendar, but they are all relatively “short” distances until my half at the end of April. I’ll be doing my usual 3/4 runs/week with varying distances and strength training mixed in. Your plan looks solid!
my husband does a 24 week program which makes me cringe just thinking about it (then again, he runs like the wind and has Boston qualified so…). I usually do 16 weeks but I do feel it’s a bit long still. I’m sure your plan will work out great – you are totally motivated!
I have a half-marathon in March and May. That’s all I’m signed up for right now. I start training for May HM at the end of Jan. I’m not worried about the March one, it will just be a training. It’s more local and the one in May is in Liverpool.
Congratulations on going big for your race! No races for me, I like to stick to the weights. But I might do a couple 5ks.
Good luck with your training! I have 2 spring races planned but they are small ones!
Looks like a great training plan!
Looks like you have a great training plan. I’m thinking about a May half marathon but just need to sort out a nagging injury.
So fun! I miss training… sigh…
18 weeks is a long time. I like 12 much better! My first scheduled race for the year is a half marathon in April, but I am contemplating an 8K in March. I have another half scheduled in July, and full marathons in June, September, and October. I will basically be training non-stop this year!
12 weeks sounds more than reasonable for a half plan especially since you have already done one. Happy training!
I much prefer 12-week training plans because I get bored too. I’m still working on my race calendar, but do have a 10-mile race in early March. Good luck with your training!
Good luck with your training! I’m kind of just taking it like it comes this year. Of course, that could change.
I absolutely LOVE the start of marathon training! Enjoy!
Looks like you have a nice plan mapped out. All the best with your training!
Best of luck to you on your training!!
I have trouble giving myself grace too. Its hard to remember that things do come up and sometimes not everything will go according to plan. Its definitely easier said than done to not be too hard on ourselves.
Looks like a great, well rounded training plan. I think most of us have to give ourselves a little grace……
I only do 18 week plans for full marathons, but even then the early weeks are really not much more than my normal running.
Sounds like you’ve created a plan that will work for you.
I do have a race at the end of May, a half IM in Chattanooga. My big race is at the end of July when I will tackle Ironman Lake Placid
I haven’t signed up for any races yet but I have a few shorter ones on my list.