I’m 4 weeks into my 12 week half marathon training plan and I’m feeling really great! Honestly, my training has been rather lackluster; just the basics. Which goes to show you that running, and improving at running, doesn’t have to be complicated.
Sure, there’s a time and a place for more intricate workouts but, when you’re new or returning to running, I find it’s better to stick to the foundational workouts and strength training, rather than adding in workouts that might actually set you back.
Training Progression
Just because I’m sticking to the basics, doesn’t mean that I haven’t progressed my training over the past couple of weeks. My overall mileage volume has increased slowly but steadily. Intensity of my runs has remained steady, as I am training by heart rate to improve my overall endurance.
And, I’ve seen a marked improvement in that endurance. I rarely look at my pace while I’m running but, I do watch my heart rate. My mid-week runs are on a fairly flat road but there are a couple of inclines I need to be conscious of while I’m training.
On the weekends, I’ve been running on a path that has rolling hills and a steady incline on the “out” part of the run. My heart rate will often bump up into zone 3, or otherwise known as my aerobic power zone. I try to slow down on the inclines and keep my heart rate as low as possible while still running because my eventual race has similar terrain. I am teaching my body to recover quickly from these temporary increases in heart rate, so there is a purpose to my training strategy.
As a whole, my heart rate has decreased on my runs and my pace has increased while remaining at an RPE 4 when I check in with my body. It’s a slow process but I know it will pay dividends come race day in November.
Strength Training & Injury Update
As excited as I am to see my cardio endurance improving, I’m even more elated to see my physical strength improving.
While I trained for my marathon in 2021, I experienced severe hamstring tightness and pain throughout my entire training cycle and after. Eventually, it led to a stress fracture in my hip. So, strengthening my body has been priority #1 since returning to running.
I’m glad to share that I’ve had very little pain over the past three weeks of training. Ironically, the time I felt the most stiffness and pain in my hamstring was after a day where I was stuck in a 3 hour meeting and then at a desk the rest of the day returning phone calls and emails that I missed (because I was in a 3 hour meeting)!
Thankfully, I now have exercises that I can use to help me get past these flare-ups when they occur. It only lasted one day and I was back to pain-free after that.
To continue to avoid these flare ups, I focus on lower body strength training twice a week with weights and balance exercises. I also alternate between sitting and standing at my desk during the day which helps shift the load on my lower body throughout the day.
Summary
I’ve been very encouraged by my training this far. I’ll be running a tune-up 10k race at the start of week 5 (it is actually part of week 4’s plan. However, the race is on a Sunday, which starts a new training week in my program). It’s going to be a very hot day, so I’m adjusting my strategy accordingly, but that is a story for next time!