Half Marathon Training...

I started this half marathon training program (above) on July 28th, because my half marathon is October 20th.  It's a 12 week program, and there are several runs that I'm supposed to do every week.

However, you know me.  I modify things to suit my needs.  That's just something that I have figured out is best for me in situations of diet and exercise especially in order to not get too structured.  Too much structure with food and exercise = a no-no for someone recovering from EDNOS.

So here's how I've modified this plan to better suit me.  First of all, I was giving myself such a hard time for not increasing my running distance.

I started training for a half marathon in  January, and gave myself weekly goals to increase my running distance a little bit every week.  They were very realistic goals, and I was super excited about it.  When I hit my goal, I was exuberant.  When I didn't hit that goal, I felt like a failure.

I had started to be too strict about my running.  If I couldn't hit that day's goal, I would feel badly about the workout and would be more likely to skip the gym the rest of the week.  (It's possible that I still have some leftover all-or-nothing thinking).

Anyway, when I started this half marathon training at the end of July, I decided that I would do so with some modifications.

1) I don't worry about the day of the week.  At the beginning of the week, I write down all the distances, and I make sure to hit those goals every week.

This week's goals
(on my awesome Buffy calendar)

2) ...unless I don't, and then I'm totally cool with that as long as I did at least two of the shorter runs and definitely hit the long run.  Sometimes it's just not realistic to run 4 or 5 days a week.  I figure that the long run is the most important one to be sure to hit, and the two to four shorter runs that I do that week help me to stay in running shape between the long runs.

3) I am taking walking breaks.  I realized that I'm really great at running a mile.  And I realized that it's okay to take short walking breaks between each mile.  I don't think that running 5 miles straight is any more impressive than walking a quarter mile to warm up, running a mile, speed walking a quarter mile, running another mile, speed walking another quarter mile, running another mile, speed walking another quarter mile, running really fast for 3/4 mile, and cooling down for a quarter mile.  Seriously, both are 5 miles.  And those walking "breaks" help me get through the long distances.

So those are my modifications.  I'm still doing the training program, but it's not quite as written.

And I love my walking breaks.  Why not run a mile, walk a quarter mile, if that's what gets me to run?  It's how I enjoy my running the most, and those running miles add up, eventually to a half marathon.  :-)