Waterlogged

The rain gods are out to get me. It doesn't matter if I venture outside in a rain coat, rain boots and with an umbrella. The rain will find a way to get to me.

It might start raining sideways, or a cab will speed by when I'm crossing the street and spray water all over me. It's a good thing that it's perfectly acceptable to hurl profanities at no one in particular in the city.

The rain always comes when I have things planned outside: I have had tickets to two baseball games this year - both have been delayed by rain by at least an hour and a half. Someone clearly doesn't want me eating over priced hot dogs and drinking over priced low-brow beer.


Puddles, an especially unfortunate side effect of rain, are also out to get me. They have ripped a flip flop off my foot too many times to count. And though, I know that it's not yet pants season for me, those puddles are just waiting for my hemlines so that they can jack up my dry cleaning bills.

The worst part of the rain is that its not predictable. If there is a 10% chance of rain in the evening and I don't bring my umbrella, it will rain cats and dogs. If there is a 90% chance and I pack the rain gear, the sun will shine.

Don't even tell me about running in the rain. The trees provide limited respite from the rain but the puddles are so numerous that running through puddles of mysterious depths becomes mandatory, unless I want to zig and zag for five miles.

See, I'm telling you, the rain gods are out to ruin my summer - and maybe a few others as well.


But with all this rain, I have learned a few things about how to manage training when there is rain.

Plan to run in the rain. The most die hard runners will run in any weather condition, and most races will go on rain or shine. I am not so crazy. If there is a blizzard, I stay indoors. But since races rarely get cancelled, try to run on the lighter rain days or chance it when rain clouds are threatening. This will help you figure out what sort of gear would work best on a rainy race day.

If possible, be flexible with your schedule. So you do yoga or take a spinning class once a week? Try to rearrange the running schedule, to allow the rain day to occur on a rest or indoor cross training day. Of course, if it's supposed to rain every day, this isn't an option.

Run on the treadmill. I really hate treadmills. I do it, but I just can't stand the idea of all that sweat and steps getting me no where. To make treadmill work more fun, try doing a short speed work-out or planning your run around your favorite T.V. show. I love getting in a treadmill run while watching The View.

Run on an indoor track. There are several gyms in the city with indoor tracks and you can have access to them for a week or so by signing up for a trial membership. Chelsea Piers, Reebok Sports Club on the UWS, and three NYC parks and rec tracks in Manhattan.

Most importantly, don't let rain derail your training plans. The idea of running the rain seems scary and more than a little bit crazy, but it's not like you are going to melt in the rain, right?

Half Marathon Training Plan

The other day, I woke up and found that I missed the West Side Highway. I missed the roar of cars next to me, and the occasional helicopter landing ten feet away.



I missed the cool breezes off the Hudson River, getting passed by the Columbia Track team twice, watching the health conscious doing yoga in the Hudson River Park, and all the dogs, the kids, and the runners.



Yep, after two years of spending at least one weekend day on the West Side logging double digit miles, can you believe that I haven't been there once this year?

Oh I haven't missed it that much. After all, I've been taking trips, enjoying late nights out and late mornings in, and eating all sorts of things that I would never eat before big runs.

But the time has come to leave my wonton ways behind - okay, maybe not completely.

I'm going to be following some variation of this plan from Runner's World.

I will be posting some more on my training but for now, I've got to run.

Adios!

Training Plan the Week of March 21st

Last week something momentous happened: I ran outside in shorts. Yes, it was a bit chilly, but wow, did it feel good. I'm looking forward to more runs in shorts.

Here's the training workout for this week:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3/4 mile at 5K pace with each 1/4 mile in between each, then 4 1/4 miles at 5K pace with 1/10th of a mile between easy, then repeat one 3/4 mile at 5K pace, strength workout
Wednesday: 3 miles at race pace
Thursday: 7 miles, easy, strength workout
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: 4 miles, rest, spinning, etc.

Training Tip: I often train at my 5K and 10K pace intervals. How do I know what these are? If you haven't raced at these distances before or your last race at these distances was too long ago or your fitness level was dramatically different, then you are going to need to "guess" your pace. I use the Running World pace converter. I plug in my half-marathon goal time to get a projected pace I should run for a 5K or 10K. Of course, nothing is ever perfect and I might not actually run a 10K at that pace, but it's a goal to shoot for anyway.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire...and Training Plan the Week of March 14th

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.

Training Plan the Week of March 7th

Often times, I do a really BAD job of living in New York City. I do things like cook dinner at home and watch movies on netflix and go shopping at Banana Republic. Things that I could do in any city in the country - and probably a good number of cities outside the country too.

But every once in a while, I do my zip code proud. This past weekend was one such weekend. I went to Pommes Frites, McSorley's and saw Bon Jovi at the Garden in one of the luxury suites. Heck, I even went shopping in SoHo and had brunch.

This past weekend it also rained all day Sunday and so I never got to make my long run. I know that I am supposed to run in any and all conditions because "you never know what race day will be like." But I just couldn't convince myself to do it. It didn't hurt that I had Bon Jovi tickets which were going to keep me up late and afternoon plans on Sunday, making the window for running very narrow.

Do I feel guilty? No. But I have to make up for this missed long run somehow.

The point of the long runs is to practice running for a prolonged period. It's about being on your feet, more than speed or mileage - especially for novice runners. So this week, I'm just going to increase my weekly mileage by the missed mileage, and I'll keep my long run at the same length as last weeks long run.

Here's this weeks training plan:

Monday: 7 miles, pilates or yoga
Tuesday: 4 x 1200 (3/4 mile) at 10K pace, with 1/4 mile cool-down between each, 6 x 200 (1/8th mile) at 5K pace
Wednesday: 5 miles and strength
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: Spinning or rest
Saturday: 12 miles
Sunday: 6 miles or spinning or elliptical

What do you do when you miss a run? Do you miss runs for rain or bad weather?

Music on Repeat & Training Plan the Week of February 28

Good Morning!

Here's my training plan and some new music to start off your week.

This week's goal is to keep my IT bands healthy while still maintaining my training schedule. If your IT Band is inflamed or you think it might be, please consult a doctor. I have no professional right to diagnose or treat injuries, and I'm just sharing my experience.


So you've never heard of an Iliotibial Band?

It's a band of fibrous tissue that connects the butt muscles to the knee and runs along the outside portion of your upper thigh. It stabilizes the knee joint and can end up getting inflamed during training as the major muscles - such as your butt, and top and bottom thigh muslcles - in the leg are strengthened as part of training. If the IT band's strength does not keep pace with the other muscles, than the stronger muscles put a strain on it. The end result could be IT Band Syndrome.

It manifests as knee pain (a tugging pain on the front of the knee) and for me, as a very sharp pain on the side of my hip. Tina of Carrots 'n' Cake posted an article recently on her blog about how to deal with IT Band Syndrome. She has some great advice and information on ITBS, but the Running World article that she sourced also has a lot of details about other injuries as well.

Now, back to business. Here's the training schedule.



Monday: Pilates
Tuesday: Treadmill workout - Repeat two times, walking 7-8 minutes between: run 400 at 5K pace, cool down 100, run 1200 at 10K pace. Run 1.5 miles at race pace, lots of stretching and foam rolling afterwards
Wednesday: Run 4 miles easy or spinning
Thursday: 6 mile run: Warm-up & cool-down 1 mile, then for the middle 4 miles, alternate 5 lamposts (1/4 mile, 5 city blocks) at 10k pace, and 2 lamposts (1/10th of a mile, 2 blocks) at easy pace
Friday: Spinning or rest (depends on the IT Bands), strength
Saturday: Spinning or elliptical or easy 4 mile run or rest.
Sunday: 13 miles, with last mile faster than first mile

Depending on how tender the IT Band is, Wednesday, Friday and/or Saturday could be rest days.

And here's the new music for the week.



This week, after all the remixes and club music, I've been downloading I felt a little more mellow this week.

Made for Us by Mackintosh Braun

Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons

This Must Be It by Royksopp

Gone Too Far by Dragonette

Bang Bang Bang (Count & Sinden Remix) by Mark Ronson & The Business Intl

Enjoy the music and may your IT Bands never bother you!

Half Marathon Training Plan

Boys.

You’ve got to love what that testosterone makes them do.



Every so often, during marathon training I would meet a boy and he would tell me that he could run a marathon. That’s not such a strange thing to say if you regularly run fifteen miles every weekend or are a professional soccer player.

But those boys...they just can't ever say something sensible and rational.



I’m not talking about runners. I mean your average boy. The ones who will paint their bare chests and stand in forty-degree temperatures for an entire football game.


I know of two boys, one who joined a sixteen mile long run despite never running double-digit mileage before, and another who ran the New York Marathon on a six-mile-a-day habit.

In case you haven’t noticed, I am not a boy and I like my knees, so when I decide to run a half-marathon, I have to train for it.

In the past, my half-marathon plans have involved running about 3.5-5 miles three-four times a week before work with one long run on the weekend. For the first half, the long runs started at six miles and maxed out at eleven miles. The second half-marathon topped out at fourteen, and for the third, I was training for the marathon and was at the sixteen mile long run point.



Now that I’ve got a few races under my belt, I’m ready for a challenge. I’ve adopted my plan from Runner's World. It’s a blend of their intermediate and advanced plans. I’ve made a significant number of changes to both schedules and I have added in cross-training and strength work.

Don’t get confused. I am NOT an advanced runner, but I have found that I can race a half-marathon much more successfully if I actually run slightly further than the race distance. I would not recommend that a new runner tries to run greater than the race distance without consulting a coach or trainer.

My general plan works like this:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Speed workout, typically a few longer distance sprints at race pace or 10K or 5k pace. There are no 100 meter dashes in this plan.
Wednesday: Spin and strength train or run easy for one hour.
Thursday: A tempo workout, usually a mid-level distance at race pace.
Friday: Spinning and strength
Saturday: Long run, starting at 7 miles and ramping up to 14 miles.
Sunday: Spin or mid-distance run, but if I’m in a lot of pain from Saturday or I just had too much fun on Saturday or I just want to spend all day shopping in Soho, then it’s a rest day. (I’m not trying to break any world records here.)

Here’s this week’s schedule:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3 x 1 mile @ 10K pace, with 400 yds cool down between each mile
Wednesday: 5 miles easy or Spinning
Thursday: 6 miles, with some little uphill sprints and bursts
Friday: My very favorite spinning class!
Saturday: 12 miles (I'm already a few weeks into my training, hence the high weekend mileage)
Sunday: Spinning or 5 miles.

If you are looking for a beginner’s plan, here are the two I recommend. Hal Higdon’s and Running.About.com. I like the Running World’s beginner plan as well, but if you are new to running, speed work can be daunting. And completely unnecessary. No one I know, did any track work for their first half; however, if you ran cross country or track than maybe you would like the challenge.

Do you follow a cookie-cutter training plan or make your own?