Life in the Cheese Drawer

training 101:

1. set a goal. the first half marathon liz and i did, we hit over the 13 min/mile mark. 2nd was not as good (liz did NOT train). 3rd was better. last year’s? we hit 12:10/mile. this year’s earth day half, i set a goal of 11:30/mile. if liz does not train, i will leave her behind!
2. figure out how hard you want to train. the last four half marathons, i’ve done a novice 2, and this year i’m heading into intermediate 1 (it’s the hal higdon plan). the difference? well, the last week of novice 2 was a total of 23 miles. last week of intermediate 1 is 40 MILES. omg. the benefit of this is to hopefully run faster? i actually should pick up hal’s book, which should explain it more. (good news! just checked the st. cloud library website and it’s on the shelves! i’m going to pick it up tomorrow.)
3. use the technology. i have tracked every outdoor run with runkeeper, so i know how many miles are on my shoes, how many miles i run in a week, and when i’m on a new route, i can figure out where the landmarks are (i know where every half mile is on several routes when i leave my house). i actually am paying for hal higdon’s training app, which lets you select blackout dates, gives you specific speedwork, and tells you how fast to go (not that i follow that hahaha).
4. do what you gotta do. the majority of my earth day half marathon training is done on the treadmill. that blows. but, you gotta do what you gotta do! sometime in march, the weather will warm up and the snow should melt a little bit, and then i’ll try to get outside for a few runs. then it’s…
5. figuring out how to dress. this is the worst second to the treadmill. dressing to run in 35-45º weather is no fun. do you bring your fleece? do you freeze for the first half mile before you warm up and then get a little better? is it windy and you are frozen while you run into the wind and then die of heat stroke with the wind to your back? do you need three layers on your butt because fat doesn’t hold heat and it gets super cold? so many weather factors. the more the weather heads up into the mid-50s and up, the better i feel about running (well unless it’s 85º+ and 400% humidity).
6. you are voluntarily doing this. i keep this in mind every time i get on the treadmill and i’m not feeling it, which is about half the time. about 20% of my runs feel ok – like after a mile, i feel like i could run at least 5 miles. but i keep on keeping on! because…
7. you get to eat. 40 miles of running = 5200 calories. that’s a lot of onion rings and chips and guac and beer. seriously – that’s 3.5 days of my caloric intake.
8. and it all comes back to the goal. because you just can! and the sense of accomplishment after finishing that race is pretty nice.

items i keep on hand for treadmill running:

1. fan
2. gum
3. kleenex
4. cough drops if i have them
5. treadmill lube
6. headphones
7. towel to cover up the time so i’m not watching a clock tick away (unless i’m doing speed intervals)