I’ve officially completed my first week of half marathon training. So far so strong.
Joanna's First Half Marathon
As I mentioned I signed up for a special 10-week training program with Armando at my gym. (P.S. He has a guest post coming up soon about massage therapy). The training program includes a boot camp class once a week, a personal training session once a week, a 10-week running schedule and a nutrition expert looking at how I’m eating. Given all I have learned about my body this past March (the resting metabolic rate and SubMax tests) I want to be under careful supervision for this race.
What I’m most excited for is fine-tuning my training. In the past I’d created workout plans for myself for races and that worked just fine. I now want to focus on taking racing to the next level to be stronger, faster and more efficient. I’ve set a goal of finishing this race in under two hours, it’s really going to take some diligent training on my part to accomplish that.
Some things that are different this time around are that I’m focusing on strength training, stretching, foam rolling and eating for endurance sports. Yeah I will do the running, but I really think that for me to get faster and stronger I need to incorporate all of these other aspects of training.
The first week’s schedule looked like this:
Monday – Personal Training Session, focus on agility, balance and strength
Tuesday – Rest day
Wednesday – Boot Camp
Thursday – Running Club, 50 minute run
Friday – Strength and stretch, chest and abs
Saturday – 6 mile run
Sunday – Strength, legs
For you runners do you think about strength training and stretching when you’re training for a race? For you non-runners, does this make running races more appealing to hear that stretching and strength training are crucial components to running?
Joanna's Fitness + Nutrition Blog 
Wow, you have a packed workout schedule! I dig. When I used to run, I liked to take a few days to work on strength training and such and of course, off days. There were some days after a long run that I didnt want to move but in a good way.
PS-I love the new background color!
Looks like a great plan. I love the variety. I have just recently gotten into running and make sure to cross and strength train. I wouldn’t be into running without still being able to fit in other things I love. Plus, I know its good for me. Love hearing someone else who does/feels the same!
Thanks Tina. Good to hear that you are cross training as well. I feel much less pain all over when I cross train.
I’m definitely a HUGE believer in switching it up more with strength. And I won’t lie- I really don’t like yoga, but when I had it worked into last year’s half marathon plan, I didn’t get hurt once during training. The last two longer races I’ve done since? Issues…
I really hate admitting that taking a day for good stretching may just be worth it. :p
Stretching is totally worth it and I resist it so much. I have a yoga mat and foam roller at home and don’t use them nearly enough.