Marathon Training

I am currently training for the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Francisco, CA on October 17, 2010. It will be my 3rd half, and I anticipate it to be the best yet! I will be recording my training below from July 17 until Race Day [you may click on individual workouts for details].

Check out this post to read my specific, 12-week training plan!

Half #1: 2:04:16 [9:30 pace] Eugene: May 4, 2008 

Half #2: 1:59:13 [9:06 pace] Avenue of the Giants: May 3, 2009

Half #3: Nike Women’s: October 17, 2010

* * *

  • Saturday, July 17: 40-min. run
  • Sunday, July 18: 3 months ‘til Race Day!

Week 1

Notes: I felt strong at the beginning of the week with a total of 4 interval runs. A busy weekend resulted in a couple slow, shorter runs; though, all together, I feel like I’m on the right track towards a great training “season”. I hope to fit in more cross training in the weeks to come.

Week 2

  • July 26:
  • July 27: 52-minute run
  • July 28: 45-minute run + 15 minutes stretching
  • July 29: 58-minute run + 10 minutes stretching + 10 push-ups + abs
  • July 30: 60 minutes DanceFit
  • July 31: 90-minute run
  • August 1:

Notes: Overall, Week 2 of training went well. My 90-minute run wasn’t exactly planned [a little too early for 10 miles], but I had no problem endurance wise; I felt strong. I’m a bit disappointed about the 2 rest days, but perhaps I’ll make up for it next week…

Week 3

Notes: I stayed on track with my training this week with 4 shorter runs, 1 long run, 1 rest day, and cross training [yoga + bike ride]. I wish had fit in more strength training, but I am planning to do a lot more of it once I’m back at school. My long run on Saturday felt relatively easy; I don’t need to be running that time/distance this early in my training, but the stronger and more fit, the better!

Week 4

  • August 9: 42-minute run
  • August 10:
  • August 11: 20-minute treadmill run [2.25 mi] + 2 x 1 mi. indoor track run + strength training
  • August 12:
  • August 13:
  • August 14:
  • August 15: 56ish-minute run [~6 mi.]

Notes: I expected to have a bit of a set-back week due to travelling, but I did not expect to get sick. I’m good at listening to my body, so I didn’t force exercise upon myself. However, sometimes opportunities come up that are worth more than a common cold, so I did decide to participate in the HLS 10K run on Sunday… and I don’t regret one, sweaty minute of it. It was easily one of my most memorable runs yet.

Week 5

Notes: I was only able to get in a mere three days of exercise again this week. Of course, this was not  part of the plan, but I wanted to recover fully from my ear infection before going at it again. I started feeling much better by Friday, so I fit in two decent workouts over the weekend. I’m hoping that these past two weeks were my only set-back in training. No time for illness or injuries – I gotta run!

Week 6

Notes: This week was definitely full of exercise… of all sorts! You can see I have worked out every day since last Saturday. I didn’t force myself to do so, I wanted to. I was simply making up a bit of lost time from the previous two weeks ; ) It is looking like I am not going to be following my original training schedule too closely [at least I haven’t thus far], but I had a feeling that might happen. I feel the cross-training is making me stronger; however, I can’t forget about the long runs. After all, 13.1 miles requires endurance.

Week of 7

  • August 30: 2 mi. ITR + 60-minute WRECPump
  • August 31: 2 mi. ITR + 20-minute treadmill run + 20-minute spin [7.5 mi.]
  • September 1: 1 mi. ITR + 60-minute WRECPump
  • September 2: 2 mi. ITR + 50-minute spin
  • September 3:
  • September 4:
  • September 5: 36-minute run [4 mi.]

Notes: Training is just zooming by! I had a pretty decent week of workouts, considering I travelled over the holiday weekend and finally took a couple of rest days. I have officially fallen in love with WRECPump [BodyPump], and plan to continue that throughout the semester. I’ve been neglecting my long runs, so we’ll see if my lack of endurance training bites me in the butt in a couple weeks at the Chico Ten race.

Week 8

  • September 6:
  • September 7:
  • September 8:
  • September 9:
  • September 10:
  • September 11:
  • September 12:

Notes:

Week 9

  • September 13:
  • September 14:
  • September 15:
  • September 16:
  • September 17: 1 month ‘til Race Day!
  • September 18: Chico Ten
  • September 19:

Notes:

Week 10

  • September 20:
  • September 21:
  • September 22:
  • September 23:
  • September 24:
  • September 25:
  • September 26:

Notes:

Week 11

  • September 27:
  • September 28:
  • September 29:
  • September 30:
  • October 1:
  • October 2:
  • October 3:

Notes:

Week of 12

  • October 4:
  • October 5:
  • October 6:
  • October 7:
  • October 8:
  • October 9:
  • October 10:

Notes:

Week 13 – Where did you come from!?

  • October 11:
  • October 12:
  • October 13:
  • October 14:
  • October 15:
  • October 16:
  • October 17: RACE DAY!

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Caroline July 1, 2010 at 5:08 pm

Congrats on your first two halfs! Those are AWESOME times! I am running my first half-marathon on October 2nd (East Hampton, NY), and then my 2nd marathon on October 17th (Baystate Marathon). I am *hoping* to beat 2 hrs and 4 hrs respectively, but we’ll see what happens. I am using the Run Less, Run Faster program (just started this week!), and am hopeful that it will get me some good results since I have never really been much of a speed demon. Good luck with your training!

Reply

2 Sana August 22, 2010 at 8:28 pm

Your 1/2 times are so awesome!!

Reply

Leave a Comment