60 days until 13.1 – let’s roll!

Today is March 6. 
…60 days until the Providence Cox Rhode Race half marathon.

Which means 60 days to train for the only half marathon where time will matter for me this year. Any other race I run leading into the Chicago Marathon will purely be for training purposes, not for any sort of personal best whatsoever.

While I say that this marathon matters to me from a time/PR perspective, it’s not my main goal for this, or any race I run this year. Like I’ve said before, my #1 goal is always to run a race I can be proud of. To run strong, to run proud, to run happy. That, above all else, is my goal in racing. Always has been, always will be.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way – what does my training plan look like? Well, I’m going to show you – something I usually don’t do, or haven’t done, with previous races. But I wanted to, and needed to approach this training cycle differently than previous ones so I actually wrote out my training plan this time (I usually just plan week-to-week when it comes to training for races, slowly upping the long run distance…).

The reason I need to approach this training cycle differently? I need to find good balance – something I know will be quite the fine line given how much I’m juggling right now. With the added element of teaching at barre n9ne, in addition to taking classes and now adding in training for this half marathon…it’s a lot. I know this. And it could easily lead to overdoing it, this much I know. In fact, even as I was writing up this plan, I was having a hard time figure out where to fit everything I want to do week-to-week. So I’m glad I decided on a more structured plan this time around, and here’s why:

…I LOVE taking barre n9ne classes. As many as I can (safely) fit into my week. Particularly focusing on the legs class which I’m aiming to take twice per week. It’s made a huge difference in my running – I now have the happiest knees I’ve ever had. Thanks to very strong glutes and hamstrings – a quality I have to thank barre n9ne, and particularly the barre n9ne legs class for.

…I am also SO excited to be teaching. Which brings a new element to things – because sure, I’m technically “taking” class while teaching it but as an instructor, I’m not there for me – I’m there for the barre n9ne clients. To give them the best workout possible. It means balancing the “doing” aspect of class with the “instructing” aspect of class – walking around to correct form is a huge component of teaching, particularly for this style of workout where form is crucial. So teaching 2-3 times (maybe more) a week is a factor I have to consider and weigh as it relates to taking other barre n9ne classes where I’m the student, not instructor.

…and then there’s this half marathon that I’m really excited to run, and run strong. Which means running four times a week, a pattern that works really well for me. No more than that, no less than that (unless I’m feeling really wiped, I will build in leeway to nix a mid-week run as I get farther into the training cycle). I’m also including one speed workout into my 4x/week running schedule, to uh, increase my speed, naturally. 😉

So here’s the plan:

(Note: click on the image to open it in a separate tab, it’s sorta squished in the main view here, a circumstance of my blog’s layout)

It looks like a bit of a doozy, right? But if you look closely, I’m building in adequate rest (and leeway for add’l rest if I end up needing it) and recovery, too.  AND – I’m using this training plan as a guide – not a hard and fast plan that I can never veer from. That’s not my style. If I need an extra rest day. I’ll take it. If I’m not feeling a mid-week run for some reason, I’ll skip it. Some weeks may end up with three days running vs. four or one less barre class, if needed.  Life happens, right??

So there you have it. My plans for the half marathon. It’s gonna get crazy up in here for the next 60 days and I’m really excited about that. 😉