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My Official Half Marathon Training Program

June 22, 2010 by 6 Comments

First, this morning I ran a very sweaty and humid 5 miles around the neighborhood. Barely 80 degrees but humidity is out of control. I hope running is easier in cooler temperatures! I don’t think I could have done more than that today, but was happy with that distance on hard pavement. I know I need more practice there. It is so nice and peaceful to get outside early when the streets are quiet and the sun is just starting to come up. And my route through River Oaks makes for pretty scenery.

Next, let’s talk about training! I recently signed up for the Rock Run Rock Dallas Half Marathon on December 5. Some days I think this distance is scary, and some days I’m ready to tackle it. As a reminder, my longest race distance is 10K., and I am prone to leg injuries–(IT band and shin, hip pains).   

I have been reading some professional training programs, and also some other blogger’s training tales to decide the best way for me to approach this race. And let’s also clarify the purpose of signing up for this race–I am running this race for a personal challenge, to set a goal and figure out how to get there, and it’s not about speed…but I don’t want to run forever!

The things I am taking into consideration when reading programs are the number of days running, total training weeks, and mileage increases. I am starting with Hal Higdon’s Novice Half Training Program and will adapt from there. He recommends 3-4 days of running, but I honestly think I can only handle 2-3. His program also peaks at 10 miles and doesn’t hit 7 miles until one month out, and I think I need more assurance that I can run closer to 13.1. I am also planning to leave a little more time to taper. So my program really doesn’t resemble his at all! Don’t know if that’s good or bad.

I value the importance of strength training and cross training, so those need to be incorporated into  my program.

So here is an Excel document of how I have decided to train for the race.  It starts the weekend of August 14, which is about 6 weeks earlier than Hal’s program starts. My program assumes that I will run sporadically throughout the summer up to 6 miles indoors and will pick up with longer distances, then taper, then pick up again.

Marci’s Half Marathon Training Program

I welcome your comments!

Filed Under: Dallas, Exercise, Half Marathon, Injuries, Running · Tagged With: , , ,

New Foods Day

May 28, 2010 by 2 Comments

I am so into trying new things and telling you about them. It is like buying new clothes and wearing them for the first time. It’s so exciting and makes the day more fun!

This is a review of my Wednesday. First, I did Crossfit at 6 a.m. and that always leaves me looking beat up and hungry. This week I have been in a little injured exercise funk. One of my orthotics is being modified, so my feet are a little unbalanced. And my shin and hip pain came back quickly. (at least I know the orthotics work when they’re in!) So Wednesday’s workout was not all-out. I swung a 26 lb. kettlebell when I can do a 35 lb. one. Should I be beating myself up over backing off 9 lbs. and listening to my body? No…but I do…because we push ourselves hard there. I was still dripping in sweat after, and it was a good workout, just not my literal strongest regarding weights. Onto food…

For breakfast, I made Overnight Oats a la The Healthy Everythingtarian or Kath Eats Real Food. Pretty common in the food blogging world, but I hadn’t tried it yet. Since I prep my meals the night before and this is a cold breakfast, it is perfect to take to work.

Breakfast Overnight Oats:

1/2 C Quaker Old Fashioned Oats

1/2 C Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt

1/4 C water

sprinkle cinnamon

1 Deep Chocolate Vitatop Muffin added in the morning

Mix first four ingredients together, refrigerate overnight. Crumble in muffin in morning. I estimate the calories around 350 including the muffin.

This could have so many variations of adding peanut butter, berries, banana, milk, nuts, other spices, etc. A new addition to my morning routine!

Product Review: I had not tried the Vitatop Muffin before. Felt like a treat to have chocolate for breakfast and only be 100 calories with 9g fiber and 4g protein packed in. A little sticky on the fingers when crumbling, but overall very good.

Lunch was a new tuna combo too. I forgot where I found it (pre-keeping track of blog recipe days). It was a Tuna Bar-humm-beque Sandwich. You’d think I could Google that and find the right blog, right? Nope.

Tuna Bar-Humm-Beque Sandwich:

One pack Chicken of the Sea 4 oz Tuna

spoonful PitaPal Original Hummus

Blop of BBQ sauce

1 hardboiled egg white, chopped

Salt and Pepper

Mix all together. I would probably add more hummus and BBQ sauce next time. It was very tasty. I didn’t want to overdo it the first time.

I served mine on two slices of Udi’s G-free Wheat Sandwich Bread with a side salad of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, yellow pepper, and pickles. I kept the tuna separate from the side salad so it didn’t get soggy overnight.

And a side cup of fruit.

Delicious lunch!


Snack was an apple with Babybel cheese. Boring. Sorry. Babybel and Laughing Cow cheeses are owned by the same company. If you haven’t tried them, they are both very good!


Dinner:

I microwaved a sweet potato for four minutes (so much faster than baking, and same result!), sauteed some mixed bell peppers, onion, squash, and zucchini, and heated some Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans.

Dessert was two Teff Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter cookies from the freezer.

Then the night got fun with 5th row tickets at Taylor Swift! Jeffrey was in 14 year old girl heaven. My favorite line of hers was “I love Houston as much as I love sparkly dresses.” I counted four sparkly dresses throughout the night including red, blue, purple, and silver. She also walked from the back of the arena to the front during the show, and passed right down our aisle, and Jeffrey even touched her! His beautiful wife was like chopped liver when Taylor came by!


Filed Under: Breakfast, Daily Update, Exercise, Injuries, Lunch, Product Reviews, Recipes · Tagged With: , ,

IT Band Pain

May 20, 2010 by 2 Comments

After Sunday’s 10K with my repeated left outer knee pain, I really want to figure out what the problem is so I can run further without pain. Thanks to the blog, smart readers, and a doctor relative who made a comment to the post, I am now thinking that what presents as knee pain is probably my IT Band at the knee.

I am familiar with the IT Band, frequently use a foam roller to massage it, but I did not know it goes all the way through the outer knee and down to the shin.  My current plan is to take a few days off from running (which I have been doing and feel ok to start back now) and use some of Megan’s tips–stretching, foam rolling, taping. On a side note–her blog is great and she is an expert runner and baker and gives excellent tips.

Onto taping—I frequently tape my shins, and my shins were pretty good during the race. So then I found this video for using tape on your IT Band for pain at the knee. Isn’t the internet wonderful? Saves me a trip to an orthopaedist, MRI, physical therapy, and lots of time! That is, if I’m correct now.

Another thing to note is that my runs are usually indoors on a treadmill, or on soft trails–rarely concrete. So running 6.2 miles on pavement could also be a major factor in the pain. I know I need more time spent on pavement.

I’ll be back to food blogging hopefully soon. Haven’t cooked anything while traveling!

Filed Under: Injuries, Running · Tagged With: ,

Dallas Bagel Run 10K

May 16, 2010 by 11 Comments

Today my dad and I ran the Dallas Bagel Run 10K! It was his 22nd Bagel Run (mix of 5k and 10k and person who has run the most Bagel Runs!), my first Bagel Run, and my second 10K. We finished in 1 hr. 10 min. That is two minutes faster than my first 10K in February (Houston Rodeo Run)!

The picture above is after the finish. It was hot and humid! Here’s a review of the morning and the race.

I woke up much earlier than planned. Was ready to get going! Lily woke up too, we played. Had breakfast of wheat toast with peanut butter and a banana, coffee and water.

Got my shoes, bib, ipod ready to go.

 

Now we’re ready to run! Dad and I stayed together the whole time. The Bagel Run was nice and small, and probably 85% of the people did the 5K, so the 10K was very quiet. The course was also the 5K route twice. Tempting to stop, but also noticed that seeing the crowd at halfway gave a little umph to do it again. The route was also through a pretty neighborhood, a little hilly, no major streets. Great route. Better than the Rodeo Run, which was not so pretty!

So our first half was fine, no major leg pains, good pace, nice weather. My shins did great. Right one twinged a bit, but on a pain scale, it was maybe  a 0-2 out of 10 the whole time. My left outer knee started hurting at about mile 3.5. I am pretty sure this is Runner’s Knee. It happened during the first 10K, hasn’t happened since. I welcome suggestions for what to do about this. It would definitely hinder me from being able to run longer distances. Could be that I need more practice running on hard surfaces. That pain was closer to a 7-8 off and on for the rest of the run.

But anyway, we finished, got our well-deserved bagel, and on with the rest of the day. Kinda strange to be ready for lunch at 10:30 a.m.! Here are some more pictures. Lily came too to cheer us on.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dallas, Exercise, Injuries, Lily, Running · Tagged With: , ,

Lopsided

May 5, 2010 by 1 Comment

I have been trying to be a runner for many years, but my longest distance is about 6.5 miles on the treadmill. Outdoors it was my recent 10K. When running long distances, or running frequent short distances, something always starts to hurt the next day, and this has gone on for years!

My shin, foot, knee, hip. Geez! My legs are just a mess. Yesterday, I may have finally gotten the answer! But first…

I started wearing orthotics years ago to correct over-pronation in my feet. I bought Asics shoes that are deeper to fit an orthotic and help with the pronation. I refurbished the orthotics after regular wear and tear. Still through all this, annoying pain. I even stopped running for over a year because I was tired of dealing with the annoyances and didn’t want to hurt myself more.

But I want to run, I like it, I want to have a goal. I want to be faster, stronger, have more endurance.

I am signed up for a second 10K next Sunday, and have been training very moderately since I know I can complete the distance, just need to keep up the endurance. 4-5 miles for long runs with a short run during the week (3 miles usually). And crosstraining. That should be perfect and painless! So then why are my shin and hip still flaring up enough for me to take notice?!

I don’t know, but I am tired of it. So back to the podiatrist and Google I go. First from Google, I self-diagnosed myself with hip bursitis, occasional Runner’s  Knee, and shin splints. All are bad and can lead to stress fractures if not treated. And what’s the usual treatment? Rest and not running. But I want to run! I don’t want to stay on the elliptical! It’s not the same!

The podiatrist had a new answer that I had not heard of. Limb Length Discrepancy!  Huh? I have one leg longer than the other? I have not noticed this before. Well it makes sense. My right leg is just centimeters longer than the left, so I overpronate even more when I run to make them even. And the bouncing on outdoor uneven surfaces makes it worse. And the foot pronation puts stress on my shin, that goes all the way to the outside of my hip because it’s lopsided from the left one.

If this diagnosis is correct, then a simple heel lift in the left shoe orthotic will even me out. No funky lopsided shoes needed.

I’m sure I will be updating here with what is happening and if the lift fixes the pain. But in the meantime, go measure your legs if you feel pain too!

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