Wineglass Marathon Training Begins!

June 2, 20141 Comment

It’s here! Today officially marks the first day of marathon training and I couldn’t be more excited! I took one day off between Medina training and Wineglass so I wouldn’t loose my endurance, but I have no concern that I’ll be burnt out anytime soon. And don’t worry, my recap on Medina is coming soon, be on the lookout for it later this week.

And now for the run down of what the next 18 weeks will bring. It’s going to be tough, but I think I’m ready than ever to get back on the 26.2 train.

Why run another marathon? Columbus will always have a place in my heart as my first marathon. Akron didn’t go as planned due to injury, but I know I can still do better than my original time for 26.2 miles. There’s no doubt that the half marathon is my favorite race, but I’m not quite ready to quit the marathon yet.

Why run Wineglass? When I was younger, my family would take vacation trips up to the Finger Lakes region of New York. From the Corning Glass Museum, to Watkins Glen, to the lakes, I always enjoyed the trips. When I started looking at half marathons for the 25 Challenge I saw Wineglass, but kept it on a list of “to run marathons”. Fast forward to late fall after I failed to run Akron, I started to ~~stalk~~ check on the Wineglass website until I finally hit register. I’m excited to go back to a place where I had so many fun childhood memories.

What will be different this training cycle? Having the support of MCRR all spring has helped tremendously with my training. Knowing that there will be a handful of us running Wineglass will only help with motivation. However, there are a few things that I’ve been experimenting with to help make this marathon cycle the best yet.

Morning runs. The heat was tough last year when I ran after work, and sometimes almost too hot to be safe. This year I want to know I can run in the morning before work if the temperature will be too high or plans will cut into training. It won’t be easy, but I think it should help, I just may be in bed by 8pm every night.
Trail running. I want to get into trail running more this summer and hopefully I can incorporate a bunch of this into my training cycle. Mixing up the terrain will do wonders for my legs and hopefully keep me injury free.
Weekly track workouts. Last year I did track workouts every other or every three weeks. This time around, I’d like to do them every week to get my speed to where I want it to be. Not only will this help with the marathon, but it will help with my half PR as well.
Run 4-5 times per week. It sounds simple enough, but I was pretty spot on with running 3-4 times a week with Medina, and never tried to run more than that. Part of it was due to schedule issues, and part of it was due to the fear of getting injured. Having a solid base already, I think this will be easy to accomplish, and help to get used to the higher mileage I’m about to dive into.
Biking. I know, I know, I always say I’m going to, but with the summer upon us and easy access to paths and even streets, I have no excuse this time.
Hills. The brutal winter kept me from tackling the amount of hills I wanted to run before Medina. Luckily I have a few major hills that I plan to do repeats on over the summer. I’m hoping to do hill repeats every two weeks.

What stays the same with this training cycle?

Cross training. Starting tonight I’ll be back on schedule with my Body Fusion Class and plan to keep it up during the entire cycle. This class did wonders for me earlier in the year and I can’t wait to see the results from this summer.
Healthier eating. Cutting down alcohol, increasing water intake, and watching my meals did wonders for my stomach this spring. I plan to follow the same guidelines, with some exceptions for special occasions.
Running with MCRR. I pushed myself like no other this year because of this group and I plan to run with them as much as I can.
Use races as training runs. I used a few races this year to push myself beyond my comfort point. I think this was one of the biggest reasons I was able to go sub 2. I hope to use half marathons along the way to gauge how my training is going.

I’m still learning what works and doesn’t work, and quite honestly, this training plan will be a learning experience for me. I’ve set a tentative training plan and hope to follow it the best I can, but most importantly I want to listen to my body and stay away from injury. The marathon is a beast, and one that I’m not too familiar with. I just hope I’ll be ready for it.

Miles and miles

So there we have it, the plan, the changes, and using what works best for my body. It’s going to be an amazing 18 weeks, a life changing experience, but one thing is for sure….I can’t wait to line up for another chance at 26.2 miles!

Who else is running a fall marathon? What tips or training advice to you have?

Medina Half Marathon Training

February 10, 20142 Comments

The time has finally come. In just 16 short weeks I’ll be running the Medina Half Marathon and working towards my mission of sub 2:00! I’m finally out of my non running funk and couldn’t be more excited to get some major mileage back on my shoes. Last year was the trial run of the race, and it went so well that I couldn’t wait to sign up for the race again this year. I’m more than confident that I can run sub 2:00, and without any injuries I should be able to ramp up training to push me to my limits. 2013 was a rough year of running for me, so this year, I’m determined not to let anything get in my way. So with out any more delay, let’s take a look at the facts for the race and see what the next 16 weeks will bring!

Medina Half Facts:

The half marathon is capped at 1000 runners for the first year, and it just sold out last night. Amazing how many people will be running the streets of Medina on May 31st!
There is a 5k option available with no limit of runners. It’s only $20 until April 1st, and you can sign up here.
The medal is one of a kind and created by the same company that does Boston’s medal.

Love, love this medal.

If you can’t run the race, or happen to be in the area on race day, you can sign up to volunteer here!
Medina Half has a race specific training plan you can follow if you’re looking for some help. There are also group runs and course runs available as well.
All other info can be found here or on the Facebook Page.

As you can tell, I’m excited for this race. I know the course and I know what to expect as far as hills and when I need to push it and when I can take it easy. As far as my own goals and training, I went back to Runner’s World Smart Coach to set the basics. From there I added my cross training ( Body Fusion & Yoga) and moved a few things around to where I’m comfortable. I’ve included speed work and hills again and this time I don’t completely hate them. I also included optional running days that help to keep me from running too much, but can help if a workout earlier in the week didn’t go as planned.

As for my goals, I’ve got quite a few. I’ll need to keep all of these in mind if I want to have the best race of my life come May 31st.

Run Sub 2:00. The giant milestone that I am currently 5 minutes and 56 seconds away from.
PR. As long as I run 2:05:54 I’ll have a PR, but I’d love to have a pretty big gap between my next PR and my current one. Even better if it starts with a 1.
Gain weight. Yes, such a troublesome topic that most people hate to talk about. I’m not happy with my current weight and know that I need to fill out a little. Let’s say add 10lbs, because we all know that 5lbs comes and goes easily.
Cross train at least twice a week. Whether it be Body Fusion, Yoga or getting on the bike, I need to keep on this. I know that cross training helps to keep me injury free, so that should be motivation enough.
Eat healthier. This goes alone with gaining weight. If you eat poorly, you run poorly. I also need to find the perfect foods for race day eve and race day morning. Tummy troubles no more.
Raise $1000 for Team JDRF. As you may or may not know, Darren was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 3 years old. Diabetes is now a part of my life as I watch him live with it every day. Team JDRF is fighting to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes so that future generations won’t have this horrible disease. Each week I’ll be posting a fact as way to educate readers on Diabetes. If you want to help find a cure, you can donate here. I truly appreciate it!

So there we have it, the facts about Medina Half, my training plan and my goals for the next 16 weeks. It’s going to take a lot of work and dedication to reach this milestone, but I’m so excited and can’t wait for May 31st!

3M Half Training Plan

November 5, 20121 Comment

I haven’t released my 2013 race calendar yet, but I’m starting my next training cycle for the first race of 2013. In January I’ll be running the 3M Half Marathon in Austin, Texas! It will be my second out of state half and hopefully a lot warmer than January in Ohio. I honestly hadn’t heard about this race until recently when Courtney and Melissa promised me this would be an easy, down hill course where I could not only PR, but possibly break 2:00. And if that wasn’t appealing enough, they would also be running the race as well. Let’s see…flat, downhill course? Possibly PR/Sub 2? 60 degree weather in January? Awesome Twitter/runner friends also running? How could I say no to this? After a few weeks of going back and forth, I finally decided that if I were to ever run a half in Texas, this would be it.

I’m 10 weeks out from race day, not my normal 16 week cycle of training. I’m not too concerned on the short time frame though. I two weeks post marathon, so I may have lot a little endurance and speed, but I needed time off to recover. However, I think I’ve still got it in me that I can get some pretty quick long runs in before race day.

I’ve given a lot of thought to how I’d like my future training cycles to go. I’m hoping for more cross training, lifting, and healthier eating habits. I also know that if I want to have a fast half, I need to incorporate more speed workouts into my training. Once again I’ll be using Runner’s World Smart Coach as my training base to get me where I need to be in just 10 short weeks.

This first week will be difficult, as it seems I always start a training cycle on a week I’m traveling. I’ll be in Colorado for half of this week and some of next week. Since we know how things started my last trip to Colorado, I’m going to be paying more attention to hydration than my running. Plus after two weeks off I know I’ll need to ease into running again. I’m looking forward to logging some long runs and even running some of those major hills. Time to dust off those racing shoes….

Interested in learning more about the 3M Half? Thinking of running it? Check out the race page here. As an added bonus, flights from Akron-Canton Airport to Austin are the cheapest they’ve been in months.