This is the first year since 2004 that I haven’t considered doing a marathon. I ran New York in 2004; 2005 I skipped because Pie was born; ran New York again in 2006; Miami in 2007; Baystate in 2008; and Miami again in 2009. I had planned on running Chicago last year, trained, made it up to 18 miles, but ended up bailing on the race because every time I ran over 16 miles, something hurt. As I’ve mentioned here before, I have nothing left to prove. My PR (personal record) isn’t fabulous, but it’s nothing to be embarrassed about either (my first marathon I ran in about 5:19, I think; my PR, Baystate, was 4:13:46. I’m considering having that number tattooed on me. Just kidding. I think.).
So this is the first summer I’ve been able to feel laissez-faire about my running. I’m running primarily for fun. I’m cross training. I take a Piyo class (Pilates/Yoga) my neighbor runs once a week. I’ve been doing strength training videos. I’m walking a ton. I’m still running three or four days a week, but at a slower pace and for shorter distances. It’s more enjoyable.
I’ll be doing a half marathon in the fall, the same one I’ve done for the past four years. But as I’m not training for a marathon, I’ll need to do a little work to get up to speed for the half. I resigned myself to looking up a half marathon plan. Working backwards from the race date, I’ll have to start training about August 14.
Hal Higdon is my go-to training plan guy. So I went to his half marathon plans with a heavy heart. Do I really feel like getting back into the training grind? Am I ready for the commitment? I decided to go with the Intermediate plan. I’m definitely not a novice, but I don’t feel like putting in the effort (read: speed work) to do the Advanced plan.
So, with my eyes half shut to block out the pain of training, I looked at the plan. And—oh my gosh—it’s nothing! After all those years of thinking in terms of a marathon, I completely forgot that training for a half marathon doesn’t require much effort! Midweek runs max out at 5 miles. And there’s one—one!—12 mile run. I do anywhere from 6 to 10 miles right now on the weekends. 12 is nothing more. I know for a lot of folks 12 miles seems daunting. And it can be! But not from where I am.
I can be lax on running and still race safely. I can go on vacation and not stress if I don’t get the miles in. Half marathons, baby! It’s where I’ll be from now on.
Yeah. as I was reading I was thinking “HM trianing plan? Jenny? Nobody who runs like Jenny needs a HM plan!”. It’s a walk in the park!