Training for Tuesday; My next half marathon

I have thrown around the 'sub 2 hour' dream a bazillion times. My 2nd half marathon was in 2:05 and at the time I didn't even consider that under 2 hours was a possibility. Ever since then though, it's been on my mind.

Trouble is, that was in 2012 and it's almost 2015. Way to make shit happen, Kristen.

I have run 2 half marathons since then. Both were.. not great.

But! We are not talking about those today, today we are only being positive and awesome, so go away negativity! I shun you.

Ahem.

I've mentioned before that I would like to do the triple crown (5k, 10k, 10m) but have decided not to do them unless work pays for them (so keep your fingers crossed for me). I am doing the rock n roll half marathon in March. And after that, I am going to do the KY Derby mini, which was the race I did in 2012. One of those races is going to be my bitch.

If I sign up for all the races, this will be my schedule:

7th March: 5 km
14th March: Rock n Roll Half
21st March: 10 km
4th April: 10 miler
25th April: Derby Half

I do not train well for races. I love to plan, but I'm not so great at following through with plans -unless they involve travel, in which case I totally do. But hard work? Not for this lazy girl.

But this time is different.

I got sick at the end of November just as I was starting to get back into it and love running again. Rude. Once I could breathe properly again, I made sure to get out there and hit the pavement treadmill. Unfortunately, I dislocated my right knee last week, so that threw a spanner in the works as well, but I did manage to get some good runs in. And that was my goal for December, just run. No plans, no requirements, just get out there and remind my mind, body and heart that this is something I do, and love. Just run.

I didn't want to plan too much because a) over planning means under achieving and giving up b) holidays c) NYC.

But December is over. And I'm ready.

With the help of the internet, info from Tracy and Alyssa, here's how I'm gonna do it:

Run Consistently
Number one, most important thing for me is that I have to run consistently. Life gets in the way and all that jazz. I don't care if I miss a hill run, or I don't feel like doing a speed workout. At the very minimum, just run.

Yoga + Strength Training (Cross Training)
Yoga helps me recover from a run and just helps my running in general. When I was at my best in 2012, I was doing weights just as often as I was running. So both of these are very important to making sure I stay on track and in the best possible shape.

Speed
I need to make sure I do specific speed workouts. Intervals and Tempo runs to be precise. I also need to make sure I can run race pace early on in the training, if only for a couple of miles at first.

Hills
I hate hills. The only reason I hate them is because I have none near me, and I despise driving to go for a run. I know, I know. I have to go to a park 20 minutes away that has horrible hills, and run them. As far as I can tell, the rock n roll half isn't particularly hilly (I have no idea how to read those things) but from experience I know the derby mini is. The good thing is, the 10 miler goes through the same park as the mini, so that's good training at least.

More miles
I need to make sure I can actually comfortably run 13.1 miles, so I have to do my long runs. These are always the ones that fall off, I'm much more likely to go for a 3-6 mile run than a 10 miler or more. I also know that a lot of plans do not recommend that you run the complete race distance before your race, but everyone is different. I don't intend to run 14 miles every weekend, but I do want to make sure that I can go out there and bust out that distance without blinking an eye, not relying only on hope on race day.

Run outside
This is really important as well. Just because you can run an 8 minute mile on the treadmill does not mean you can run it outside, Kristen. I am really bad at that. I can run as fast as I want for a couple miles just to get it over with, but I just don't have that oomph outside. Need to get the oomph. Not that I want to run 8 minute miles outside. Not that I can.

^ That might be my favourite thing ever.

I'm not going to share my specific training plan on here, because it's boring and I don't want to share my crazy goals just yet.

Bye Felecia! Linking up with the girls of course.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe end to 2014. See you on the other side!