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23 Tips For Half Marathon Training & Racing

24, Jun 2009

I carefully read each and every article in the Runner’s World vault for half marathon training and condensed it down to 23 tips (17 on training and 6 on racing). The full articles can be read here: http://tr.im/HalfMarathonRW

Enjoy.

TRAINING

1. Use long tempos to learn how to gauge your energy and get your legs used to the pounding. Get comfortable with lactic acid build-up.

2. In the high mileage month before your race, slow down your non-running activities. If you’re lifting or cross training 3 to 4 times a week, cut it down to two or three sessions.

3. Focus less on your projected finish time and more on the training process as a whole.

4. Take a 10-K training model and extend it out, or use a marathon program and take down the long runs a bit.

5. Cut back interval training to twice a month. Run longer intervals with shorter recovery times.

6. Interval Workout: Try two miles at half-marathon pace, one mile at 10-K pace, and a half mile at 5-K pace. Then repeat the sequence.

7. Don’t try to PR in the workout every single time.

8. Training is practice for the real thing and you’ve got to expect you’re going to screw up sometimes.

9. If you go out too hard on tempo runs, it’s good practice for when you go out too fast in a race and have to regroup.

10. If you want to run fast on the roads, skip the track and do your interval workouts on the roads. Find a course where its easy to map out specific shorter distance markers.

11. Come up with a training plan that you can follow without a lot of hassle.

12. Taper for two weeks. This will ensure that you step up to the starting line rested, injury-free, and ready to reach your goal time.

Tips #13 thru 23 after the jump….

Morning Run Masochism, Part 2

23, Jun 2009

The sequel is always worse.

My second attempt at a morning run was doomed from the beginning. Lauren and I didn’t get home until around 8:30pm last night. Nothing wrong with that except it means our dog Charlie was home alone for too many hours. Which means she slept a lot. Which lead her to wake up at 5:17am, about an hour and 15 minutes earlier than I had planned on waking up.

holiday 08 079

When Charlie wakes up, she wants everyone to know she’s awake, so trying to sleep through it is mostly worthless. By 5:30am, I decided to cut my losses and get an early start to the morning. This might have been the only good decision I made, pertaining to this morning’s run.

I followed my own guidelines for morning running that I posted last week. I laid out my shoes and clothes. I set aside a water bottle, caffeine shot, vitamins, advil and an apple. I had my ipod and stopwatch out. Getting ready went off without a hitch and within 15 minutes I was out the door, walking for a few blocks and pausing to stretch on the street corners.

I began to run. My body didn’t feel great, but it was better than last time. I definitely had some cobwebs in the head, but I think I’m finally starting to work out the kinks from too many days of vacationing and poor eating. Then after about a mile it hit me. I had forgotten to partake in one of the cardinal rules of a morning run. I forgot to take a dump.

I hope you continue reading out of morbid curiosity.

“No worries” I thought. I was heading up to the east 6th st track and there’s a men’s room right by the entrance. I’ll lighten my load and then proceed with my track workout. By the time I got there, it was about 6:20am. I read the signs posted around the track.

The bathrooms don’t open until 8am. Shit.

This required a quick assessment of the situation. I walked over to the ladies room in hopes that maybe it was left open from the night before. Then I jogged around looking for port-a-potties. I even scouted out some secluded corners of the park, which I’m embarrassed to admit I even considered…


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