As of last year, the week of Christmas has a new meaning: the first day of training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Half Marathon. This past March was my first time running the race, and my first half marathon. And as we are quickly approaching the stroke of midnight, I cannot wait for March to run in this race again. It was such an accomplishment and I had SO much fun with the training. I was fortunate enough to train on part of the race route since we are so close to DC. I am very much looking forward to improving my time and becoming a second-time half marathoner 🙂
In the spirit of all this half marathon talk, something obviously “trending” in my life right now is the training. I had a lot of success with this training plan last year and decided to go with it again. It is inspired from an article I read in Shape magazine. With my busy schedule, I’m only able to squeeze in three runs a week, but I can say, I definitely felt prepared for the race. I gradually increase my mileage each weekend, not running more than 10 miles while training for the half. I run Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Saturdays are always the long run of the week. Fridays are always a rest day, and if you have time, Tuesdays and Thursdays can be cross train days, doing some exercise besides running.
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Monday
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Wednesday
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Saturday
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Week 1
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3 miles
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3 miles
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4 miles
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Week 2
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3 miles
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3 miles
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5 miles
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Week 3
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4 miles
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4 miles
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6 miles
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Week 4
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4 miles
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4 miles
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7 miles
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Week 5
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4 miles
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4 miles
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4 miles
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Week 6
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4 miles
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4 miles
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8 miles
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Week 7
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5 miles
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5 miles
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9 miles
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Week 8
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3 miles
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5 miles
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6 miles
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Week 9
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5 miles
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5 miles
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10 miles
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Week 10
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3 miles
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5 miles
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7 miles
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Week 11
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3 miles
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3 miles
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6 miles
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Week 12
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3 miles
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3 miles
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Race Day 13.1!
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Now that I have one year under my belt, I’m hoping that this training plan allows me to have an even better time in March!
Here’s to many great runs in 2014! Happy New Year!
