Lap Those Couch Huggers

 As you know, we are expecting baby #2 in December of this year. During this pregnancy I thought FOR SURE I would be one of those super active moms, gain no additional weight and rock those cute clothes for my little baby bump… Har… Har… Har…. That was definitely not the case.

After we conquered Hospital Hill’s Half Marathon in May, I was dead. Dead to exercise. Dead to everything really! And oddly I miss it, a lot! I had no idea I would miss sweating, jiggling and aching but I really do! With two half marathon’s under my belt, I hung up my shoes without even realizing what I was doing.

Over the last few months, I have been blah… and by that I mean BLLLAAAAHHHHH…. I cannot believe my legs miss the burn, and my body wants the reminder that I am actually ALIVE! Yes, the toddler at home and this very large child I am caring have created enough madness and pain for me—but not as satisfying as pounding the pavement. So to make myself feel better, I began to research high and low for a FLAT and obtainable Half Marathon in Kansas City. (And no… the Hill and the Waddell and Reed run are NOT options… in my humble opinion). Once I found one in the Overland Park Area (The Gobbler Grind) it was time to make a goal.

So here is it…The goal is to begin training in February, which will give me ample time to heal and hit the pavement. AND I will be starting over with my training… first goal being a 5K. Work myself back up to the Half and beat my best time.

While researching these last few months I have also heard quite a few people note how they would love to be able to do a long race like that… Well here it is… Your chance. Quit wishing for it and DO IT! Do it with me! Nothing motivates more than a little peer pressure AND this will make it easier to suck down all those calories over the holidays because you will be burning them off all year next year! I would consider that a guilt free holiday season!! Bring on the egg nog!!

And on top of the running, I have thrown in that I am going to be working on morning running… sounds fun huh? I just know that I come up with WAY to many excuses when I try to do it in the evening- even after I squish into all that confining clothing! And I know a lot of you would only be able to do it in the morning, so I just nixed that excuse huh?? I practice a walk/run method, and take it at a hard to breath- but you are in fact breathing- pace. I am not about the pace, but about the finish line… And beating the cop car that clears the course at the end!

So, let’s look at the training program we are all going to embark on!

The Highlights:

·         You will be running 3X times a week- try to give yourself a rest day in between if you can (and I always did my long runs on the weekend)

·         This is matched off the 2013 calendar- so your dates should match up

·         Run/Walk intervals… the first number is how many minutes you run and the second is how many minutes you walk. So for example on day one, I will run 1:00 minute, walk 2:00 minutes and repeat until I complete (1) mile, etc.

·         DON’T SCROLL DOWN AND FREAK OUT!! As you go along you will be amazed at what your body will adapt too!

·         Milestones: I have runs/races I do every year and that is what I put in the milestones as well as my goal time for that race- if you want to know what races these are please let me know!! But it is a VERY good idea to find a 5K, a 10K and the half of your choice now and get signed up! If anything those registration fees will definitely keep you on target to meet your goal!! (That was a driving factor for me on many occasions for our first half!)

November 2013 Half Training Plan
Date	Week	R/W Interval	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Weekly Miles	Milestone
Feb
3-9	1	1/2	1.00	2.00	1.00	4.00
10-16	2	1/2	1.00	2.00	1.00	4.00
17-23	3	1/2	1.00	2.00	1.00	4.00
24-2	4	1/2	1.00	2.00	1.00	4.00
March
3-9	5	2/2	2.00	3.00	2.00	7.00
10-16	6	2/2	2.00	4.00	1.50	7.50
17-23	7	2/2	2.00	3.00	2.00	7.00
24-30	8	2/2	2.00	4.00	1.50	7.50
April
31-6	9	3/2	3.00	4.00	2.00	9.00	5 K!!
7-13	10	3/2	2.00	5.00	2.00	9.00	Goal:
14-20	11	3/2	3.00	4.00	2.00	9.00	0:40
21-27	12	3/2	2.00	5.00	2.00	9.00
May
28-4	13	4/2	4.00	5.00	2.00	11.00
5-11	14	4/2	5.00	6.00	2.00	13.00
12-18	15	4/2	4.00	5.00	2.00	11.00
19-25	16	4/2	2.00	6.00	2.00	10.00
26-1	17	4/2	4.00	5.00	2.00	11.00
June
2-8	18	5/2	4.00	7.00	5.00	16.00	10 K!!
9-15	19	5/2	5.00	8.00	4.00	17.00	Goal:
16-22	20	5/2	6.00	7.00	5.00	18.00	1:20
23-29	21	5/2	4.00	8.00	4.00	16.00
July
30-6	22	6/2	5.00	8.00	4.00	17.00
7-13	23	6/2	6.00	9.00	3.00	18.00
14-20	24	6/2	7.00	8.00	4.00	19.00
21-27	25	6/2	5.00	9.00	3.00	17.00
28-3	26	5/2	4.00	8.00	3.00	15.00
August
4-10	27	5/2	8.00	9.00	6.00	23.00	10 K!!
11-17	28	5/2	7.00	10.00	5.00	22.00	Goal:
18-24	29	5/2	8.00	9.00	6.00	23.00	1:15
25-31	30	5/2	7.00	10.00	5.00	22.00
September
1-7	30	7/2	8.00	10.00	6.00	24.00	4 Miles!!
8-14	31	7/2	7.00	11.00	5.00	23.00	Goal:
15-21	32	6/2	8.00	10.00	6.00	24.00	1:00
22-28	33	6/2	7.00	11.00	5.00	23.00
October
29-5	34	5/2	8.00	11.00	7.00	26.00	5 K!!
6-12	35	5/2	7.00	12.00	5.00	24.00	Goal:
13-19	36	6/2	9.00	11.00	4.00	24.00	0:35
20-26	37	6/2	8.00	12.00	9.00	29.00
27-2	38	5/2	7.00	10.00	6.00	23.00
November
3-9	39	6/2	10.00	12.00	10.00	32.00	HALF!!!
10-16	40	7/2	9.00	13.00	8.00	30.00	Goal:
17-23	41	7/2	7.00	11.00	6.00	24.00	2:55
24-30	42	6/2	8.00	5.00	11.00	24.00

Okay… So are we excited yet??? If you don’t think you can do this, you are psyching yourself out for no good reason. You can do this and just imagine how amazing you will feel when the bragging rights are yours on the achievement of 13.1 miles??? That is actually A LOT of fun!

So who is with me? And don’t make me call you out by name! (Because I will!) Over the course of the year, I will keep you posted on how the weeks are going and what races I will be in, as misery definitely LOVES Company J Hopefully I will see you on the trail!!

~K