Training

I need to write more blog entries! I'm going to start logging my training, so I don't ramble to my friends and family about running all the time. I don't have many running friends, and I'm sure my family isn't nearly as interested in my training schedule as I am. lol!

Today I'm setting out for a LSD run. When I decided to train for a half marathon, I figured that training in the winter would be tough. I decided to join a gym at work so that I could run on my lunch break or after work during the week, when it's too cold outside to run. I scheduled my LSD runs for Sundays. I knew that I might have a problem running outside at home on Sundays, but I didn't think I'd have to skip a whole month's worth of long runs! The last long run I did was in the middle of December. It seems like the weather is bad every Sunday, with ice and snow, and really cold temperatures! I'll run when it's in the 20s (I've done it a couple times and didn't mind the cold at all), but when it's in the teens and windy, that's too cold for me! It's been really frustrating the last couple of weeks. I've been trying really hard to stick to my training schedule, and I hate not being able to give myself a star sticker for the day. It's very frustrating.

So, my training schedule says I'm supposed to run 8 miles today, but my last long run was only 6 miles. I'm going to try for 7 miles, but really I'll be happy if I can only manage 6. It's not like I haven't been running at all. I did 5 miles on Wednesday, and I felt like I could have managed another mile if I had to.

Some notes on my training plan...last year when I was training for some 5k races, I had shin splints all the time. Constant pain, running or not. I had trouble walking up and down stairs. I really shouldn't have brushed it off. One day I decided to make my treadmill run a little less boring by trying a run/walk interval run with 2 minutes running followed by 1 minute of walking. I was thrilled to discover that I was able to finish my run strong, and I had no shin splints! It felt almost like a small defeat, to take walking breaks, but it meant so much to me to get rid of those horrible shin splints! I decided to change my training and only do run/walk intervals. So that's what I've been doing, and I haven't had any pain!

The thing is, I was a slow runner before, and now walking breaks are slowing me down more! But it averages out over time. Before if I ran 3 miles, I'd start out with a pace of about 11-11:30, and finish with almost a 13:00 pace. Now I can run at 11:30 pace (walk about 16:00) consistently for the whole run. I think that in the long run (ha ha, a pun), it will work out fine. I'm not really concerned with speed. I'm amazed that I can even run 5 miles!

Well, I'm just about ready to set out on my run. We're supposed to get some rain/freezing rain today, so I'm going to run back and forth on my street. It's slightly uphill one way, which makes it really hard for me, but I want to stay close to home, just in case it starts raining.

Hopefully, I'll be back to post a blog about how my run went!

(Oh, and I have to remember to write about the gym that I joined - I love it!)