It has been one week since I finished my first marathon and I’m ready to ease back into running. The general rule of thumb is to take 1 day off from HARD RUNNING for every mile in the race. For me, that’s 26 days. Yeah, I can’t not run for 26 days. But I can do various types of running that do not include hard running.
So, today I’m starting the 6 Month Running Challenge. I found this idea through Jobo over at Determined to Be. She wanted to work on improving her running fitness and in doing that, improve her mental discipline to run a half-marathon. This time of year, my mileage is usually just pitiful and then I try to jump into spring races because the weather is nice and it’s just the thing runners do..race with the bugs and butterflies. This year, I would love to finish the Twisted Ankle half in time to eat lunch at a decent hour. This 6 month running challenge will definitely help keep me on track.
The quick version: Each week, do 3 different types of runs and 1 strength training/cross training workout.
- An interval run. Those can be done easily on a treadmill on those days when I can’t use the cold weather as an excuse. Besides, I live in Alabama. What cold weather?
- A maintenance run. This will gradually get longer. Because I still have some soreness in my left knee, my maintenance might be 3-4 miles for a few weeks. As I get a good base going to lead into official half training, that should increase to my usual 5-6.
- A long run. I can tell you right now, my long run this Saturday/Sunday will only be about 6-7 miles, if that much.
- Strength training resumes this week as I start back to CrossFit!!! Can you tell I’m excited?
I’m so glad I found this idea from Jolene and Lee. I have some direction and a routine to follow before I start another training schedule. And it will definitely help keep my eye on goal races and fun races that will be here before I can lick an icicle.
Running challenge week 2 | Katrina Runs For Food
Friday 30th of December 2011
[...] I love this challenge. It is something to keep me from meandering along and skipping a lot of maintenance runs. I still haven’t nailed down any spring races other than Twisted Ankle but that may be the only one I do. I have some crossfit goals I need to work on and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what strength I’ve gained is what got me to the finish line. I need to get stronger, especially in my core, back and legs. Any disproportionate strength is not good for my IT band. [...]
jobo
Tuesday 13th of December 2011
Yay!! I am so glad you related to that post and you are going to join the challenge! I think this is obviously totally feasible and I know you will do great. The winter runs are so hard for me to maintain and this year, I am just so determined to make sure to keep up my distance, at LEAST 6-7 miles so I am not starting over when it's warmer out :)