Half Marathon Training

So call me crazy, but I decided to run another half marathon this year. Last year was my first one and while I made good time (2 hours and 15 minutes with an average 10 min/mile pace), when I crossed the finish line, my legs felt like a ton of bricks and my knee and hip joints were sore for over a week, despite taking Advil. And the 12 weeks of training I endured to prepare for the half marathon were absolute hell. So why you ask would I voluntarily choose to endure this pain again? Well despite the dreaded training and the pain, there is a sense of accomplishment when you set a goal and achieve it. Particularly when that goal is not something that comes naturally to you. I have always been active and enjoyed playing sports, but running for the sake of running has never been something that I have enjoyed. I think I enjoy a challenge more than anything. It started out years ago when I ran a 5k race...3 miles was easy enough to complete. Then I ran a 8k, then a 10k, then a 12k, then a 10 miler. Then I thought...what the hell, I might as run a half marathon, it is only 3 more miles.

So here I am again, trying to motivate myself to run 3 times a week to prepare myself to be able to run 13.1 miles without stopping. This year I decided to start my training early. One thing I learned about myself last year was that my body needed a lot of recovery time after long training runs. So this year, I devised a 16-week training plan...4 more weeks to train this year.

Each week, my training program calls for two "short" runs and one "long" run. I just completed my 4th week of training and I feel that I have such a LONG way to go...I don't remember training last year to be this hard.

Here is running log for the last 4 weeks...

Week 1 - two short runs of 3 miles each and one long run of 4 miles
Week 2 - two short runs of 3 miles each and one long run of 4 miles
Week 3 - two short runs of 3 miles each and one long run of 5 miles
Week 4 - two short runs of 3 miles each and one long run of 5 miles

And the last 5 mile run was so PAINFUL that the last mile my lefts felt like a ton of bricks and all I could think about during my run was food and how hungry I was. Probably defeats the purpose of burning all these calories, but all I can think about on my runs is food and what I want to eat. I am just starting to feel like my 3 mile runs are "easy," but my long runs are painful and at this rate, I don't know how I am going to be able to run 13 miles.

Let's hope the next 12 weeks of training becomes easier for me. I hope the Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon on June 26th is so much fun that it makes it worth all this pain.