Half Marathon Thoughts + Workouts From Week

 

There’s a slight ping in my heart, every so often lately, as the Long Island marathon weekend approaches.

I ran the 10K portion last year but the thought of the half marathon still touches my heart, even though I haven’t run 13 miles in gosh, almost two years.

I’ve run the Long Island half marathon four times (2013 – 2016), with my current PR (1:45:18) still holding from 2016. I haven’t run a half marathon since.

I enjoy running less these days but I do still think about half marathons and breaking 1:45. I mean, I am only 18 seconds away!

But could I just jump in and start running half marathons again?

I know that I am conditioned enough to complete a routine 13.1 miles around my neighborhood on any given day. You don’t forget how to do it. It’s all mental if you ask me.

But race a half marathon at the moment? Or even, on a whim, sign up for a half at last minute? A race atmosphere is so different from a leisurely run, even when you aren’t technically racing the distance.

I decided to ask Laura if someone like me (meaning, a former higher mileage, seasoned half marathoner) could just jump into running a half marathon.

Here’s our conversation:

Me: I wanted to ask you as running coach, could someone like me just sign up on a whim to run a half marathon?

Laura: You’ve run 10 recently right?

Me: Yes.

Laura: So if you can run 10 now, you could. You wouldn’t be in PR shape but you would have the endurance to finish. From where you are now, you could safely do 12 before race day and still taper.

Me: But I don’t want to even run 12 miles before a race day right now! < – who have I become?!

Laura:  Not that you would have to – you could do it off of 10 – but if you have a few weeks and could get up to 11-12, it would make race day mentally and physically easier.

Me: Good point.

Me: Also, for someone like me, if I wanted to train to break my half marathon PR but do not want to run high mileage, what’s the minimum mileage I could train on to do it?

Laura: That’s a good question because mileage varies so much not just runner to runner but for individual runners in different seasons of life. I think 35-40 would be optimal, but you could maybe do it off around 30 miles per week as a “minimum maximum.”

Me: Oh, 30 it would be. I definitely do not want to run more than that on a weekly basis.

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So we shall see. I do not plan to train to run a half any time soon, but at least I have some information to work with, should it become something on my list.

There is a very slight chance, very slight, that I will decide at the very last minute to sign up to run the Long Island half in a few weeks. No stopping to think about it, just sign up, go and see what happens.

That would be interesting right? Just go and run and see what happens? I don’t know. I don’t like to wake up that early or spend my money on a la de da run but the mental part of jumping in with nothing in mind sounds interesting. At the moment. I don’t know. What do you think?

******

My workouts over the last week were fine and flexible. Best way to describe it. I had to move things around based upon weather and the Islanders. The playoffs leave me tired!

Monday – 47 Min Pure Barre

Yes, this was 47 minutes, not 45 minutes. Pretty sure they added extra plank work with those extra 2 minutes — never my favorite (because it’s hard!) but I know it’s worth the effort.

Tuesday – 3 Miles

9 miles on Sunday no problem, today 3 miles was a major achievement. The weekdays are so not my running days right now! The entire first mile was spent thinking maybe I will stop after a mile and just walk. But then I said — my goodness, you can run 3 miles! Geez. It’s only 20 something minutes of running, why are you stopping?

So I made it 3 miles. Ridiculous.

Wednesday – 49 Min Pure Barre

I mentioned this Pure Barre workout more in-depth in Friday’s post.  Such a strong work out.

Thursday – Rest

I knew last night’s Islanders game (which went into overtime) was going to leave me exhausted today.

Friday – 5 Miles

I don’t normally run on Friday’s but I didn’t run yesterday and wanted to get outside. Decent run. No complaints.

Saturday – 60 Min Pure Barre (Pure Results  – Arms)

It was still raining at 9:00 am so I opted for an hour of Pure Barre, knowing that I can run tomorrow.

Exercise in photo below =  DEAD.

Sunday – 8 Miles

I flew out the door full of energy (excited about the noontime start for the Islanders game !) and happy to be running at my leisure in 60-degree temps. Usually, I need some adjusting to warm weather but not today. It felt terrific, even if I did start to get a bit warm. I wouldn’t say it affected me — I appreciated it.

Have a great week! Good luck to the runners in Boston!

Workouts from the week plus my half marathon thoughts at the moment #running #run #purebarre @pure_barre #halfmarathon #longislandhalfmarathon #lihalf Click To Tweet

When was the last time you ran a half marathon? Are you currently training for one?

Have you ever run a half marathon just for fun or as a last minute decision?