Half training...day 1

A rather inauspicious start to completing my first half marathon....

It was HOT.

It was HUMID. 

I felt like I either wanted to puke or die. 

But I did it. 

 

I am using the Jeff Galloway Half Marathon Plan for runners/walkers as a basis for my first half. I can adjust my run/walk ratio to my desired pace (comfortably settling in for about a 12-14 minute pace) and go from there. The plan only uses distance markers on the long runs for the weekends. Its a good 17-20 week training plan (which I need...today is 20 weeks until my half). Plus, even with taking time off, I am finding I am still in better shape than I was in December-ish. So I dont feel like i Have to go back to square one in terms of training...

Plus a 5k and a half marathon are two totally separate training methods (as I am finding)

Anyhow, last night was a "rest day" so I went for a nice 3 mile leisurely walk...and had the urge to run about .2 miles at the end which felt good. did 3 miles in about an hour...not too bad. Would never do a 5k at that pace but it keeps the muscles flowing

Today's scheduled run just said "30 min run." So I decided to up my run/walk pace to 75 seconds each (up from the 60 I did the other day) and remembered to extend my run so that I didn't accidentally cut off the last .25 miles.

I did it. 5 minute or so warm up, 10 or so repeats of the run/walk ratio, and a 5-7 minute cool down. But boy was it HOT and sweaty and uncomfortable. My legs are still working to get back into shape from taking time off and they hurt. I could have used a foam roller (even just after 2 miles). I'm going to give it a couple of (semi painful) weeks of getting my legs back into shape before I decide whether its the shoes or the terrain. After a while the sidewalk didn't hurt when I was running hard before...but it is getting close to new shoe time (over 6 months old). So maybe I will treat myself to a new pair or two before summer is out. 

Now its time for a banana and a shower. Supposed to be a rest day tomorrow but I might go back out because I need to get my schedule straightened out because I'm doing my skating XT on Wednesdays and Fridays. So it would be beneficial to run on Sun//Tues/Thurs with another run maybe on Monday and XT wed/Friday and total rest on Saturday for a LR on Sunday. At least thats what I am going to aim to do.