I must confess. I've been lying to you. For the past few weeks, I've been posting my workouts on the blog for my half-marathon. They are one-hundred-percent, mile-for-mile the workouts I plan to do that week.
However...
It's much more of an aspirational plan. Because, you know, things like life, get in the way. And I really just don't have time to work out every day of the week. But I try. I really do. Don't you?
But I've been going about all of this wrong. Not one week of workouts have passed where I have followed the workout plan exactly. Something has always coming up, whether it's rain or a late night or just a lack of motivation, I have cut my workouts short or skipped some of them. It's true.
Some myths that I've been perpetuating:
* You don't have to do every single workout. Heck, you can skip a lot of workouts. It's about an 80% effort and mostly, those long runs. If you run 10 miles in your training...you will complete a half marathon.
* You don't need to do speed workouts. Sure, if you have a time goal in mind and have run some races before, by all means, please work on your pace. But otherwise, just get out there and get the blood flowing four days a week, and most importantly listen to some good music and think about things.
* I don't love to run all the time. Sometimes, I want nothing more than to sit on my butt all day long and eat my own pizza pie. Or I just want to sleep in. But unless I am sick or in severe pain (walking and running) then I run.
* I don't feel great during every run. Runs are like brushing your teeth. Most days you just do it because....well, who wants to have the dentist put that drill anywhere near them? But you know how once in a while, your teeth get that fuzzy feeling and your mouth just feels really dirty? And brushing your teeth then is like the best thing ever? Well, running is like that.
* I don't run fast. Actually, I'm really slow. My long run pace is 11:30 to 12 minutes per mile. On the treadmill, easy is 4.8, decent pace is 5.2, hard is 6.0 and really hard is 6.3. If I get past that, I'm running for my life. (Literally...do you want to know what it's like to fly off the treadmill because you can't keep up? Me neither.)
I am sorry that I lied to you.
I wasn't trying to lead you on. I just want the best for you. But I can't expect more from you than myself.
So give yourself a break. If you want to run a half marathon, don't pay attention to what I'm doing.
All you got to do is run a few times a week, and get in those long runs no matter how slow they are.
Now here's my workout plan for the week - which I have every intention of doing in it's exact specifications - but will probably make a few tweaks to along the way.
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4 miles & Pilates
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 4 miles at race pace
Friday: Spinning
Saturday: 14 miles
Sunday: Rest & Pilates
Now go and enjoy the rest of the week.
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