Wednesday Blog Tour

My blog tour this week goes along with my exercise theme and getting up the courage to run a marathon.

Our blog tour takes us over to Fitness for Mommies. Rachel is one busy mama. She has two boys, is a PE teacher, she runs, bike races, does triathlons, yoga, pilates and much more. She also recently ran a marathon and beat her PR (in running lingo that stands for personal record). I stive to be like her - but she had a head start on me! She stared running in middle school and I did not start until college. Her blog is all about staying in shape, training and the newest and latest products for fitness training.

It seems as if I have been stuck in the same pace since I started running - an 11 minute mile. Right now I would love to run a faster mile and increase my miles. I asked Rachel how do I take my running to the next level?

Here is her response:

In my mind there are several factors that are important- mileage not being one of them. When I trained for St. George, our average mileage was 25-30 over the whole 16 week program! One week, we hit 40, but other than that it was around 25 or less. All of our workouts had a GOAL. Something specific to work on that day. We never went out and just ran. I think 3 workouts a week is absolutely achievable for a marathon! The first week of the marathon plan that I have calls for one long run of 10 miles. To me, that is what you should work up to now. Then plan on training seriously come January.

1. Speed. You need to train your body to go faster by running faster. You can incoporate one speed workout into a 30 minute run- by running for 10 minutes easy, then go hard for 1 minute, easy for 1 minute, etc...Try doing that once a week.

2. Tempo. Let's say you want to start running 1030 miles, right? So, on your regular run, once per week, plan on running one mile at 1030 and 2 miles at 11 (warmup and cooldown).

3. Long Run. If you want to start training for a marathon, you will need to increase your mileage by 10% weekly. First week at 5, then next week 6, then 7, back off to 5 one week, then back up to 8. Gradually increase your distance over a long period of time.

Resources:
If you can, I would highly recommend purchasing a plan from Coach Al. (I don't get any kickbacks for referring people!) I just would never train for any big goal again without a plan. The plans are well researched and you will get results from it.

Another resource I like is the Run Less, Run Faster book that you can buy on Amazon. It has detailed plans for all distances from beginners to advanced and all are based on three runs a week.

Finally, I have to say this because of all the pain I've gone through training for this marathon, stretching and yoga are non-negotiable. I like to refer to Sage Rountree's free yoga podcasts because they are only 5-10 minutes in length and are designed for athletes.

Also, if at all possible, a training buddy can be invaluabe to getting you out the door on days you don't feel like running!

With that said for the month of November I am going to focus on running at least 3 times a week, doing one speedwork a week and increasing my miles by 10% every week. In order to do this I am going to have to get up early - which I hate!

What do you do to motivate yourself to get up early to workout?