How to wisely train for a half marathon
How to wisely train for a half marathonHave a solid plan.
One of the biggest mistakes I have made is spanning my training block out too long.
Success and improvements at every distance is about sitting down, ironing out all the details of what you want to accomplish and then forming a plan on how to achieve those goals.
Guessing what workout you are going to do each day is about as solid of a plan as getting into your car with the knowledge of a destination without taking a map or a GPS system.
All you are going to do is get lost or have a huge headache in trying to get there when a simple plan of action and utilizing the tools around you could have saved you all the negativity.
The same goes for traveling for hours on and end. We all feel great and excited at the beginning but 12 to 18 miles into a drive the excitement seems to wear off, our mind begins to wonder, we fight to keep our eyes open. You know what I am talking about.
You can train properly for a half marathon in 12 to 16 weeks, many times even less but no plan of action and contenting to fight for personal bests at every race past that time frame is counterproductive.
Athletes that are asking themselves, ‘how to wisely train for a half marathon' are on the path to success.
Why?
Because they are searching for answers.
They want to know what actions must they take that aren't currently working in their routine and replace them with new tactics that will.
Want to know one key piece of advice on how to wisely train for a half marathon?
Allow yourself some downtime. I was going to aim to break the 2.18.00 marathon standard this march at the woodlands marathon here in Texas.
It took a conversation with my wife to realize that I actually had been training for a year straight and had not taken a break.
I was feeling flat for a reason.
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Sometimes the hardest part about going after our goals and dreams is having the patience to take a break from the process.
How about you?
Are you are feeling like you just aren't where you need to be in your preparation?
A couple weeks away from the sport to recharge your batteries is not as hard as many runners make it out to be.
Training wisely for a half marathon or any other distance is about having the courage to back off and rest when you most certainly need to.
It is about practicing running for long periods of time at higher percentages of your anaerobic threshold and facing your fears head on.
You want to be out of your comfort zone so that when you toe the line in your half marathon you know you have experienced more in training than you will ever experience in the race.
You will be hardened by doing long runs exceeding the race distance, mile repeats at 30 to 40 seconds per mile faster then the pace you want to run the half-marathon distance in and all this will provide additional confidence to you.
Wise training for the half marathon distance is a matter of being patient, persistent and tenacious in your execution.
Look at the pros and cons of your training as a whole. What has not worked?
Where are your strengths and weaknesses. Continue to sharpen your strengths and work to develop the weaker areas of your training.
Could those weak areas be the amount of sleep you get each night? Diet? Partying?
Have you written down your plan in writing? Can you see it so that you can organize what needs tweaked and make any changes?
Everything in moderation.
I would never advise my readers to run hard everyday. This is not only counterproductive but a great way to burn out and lose the joy of the sport.
We talk a lot about the process here at rundreamachieve. The status quo can focus on the event (the great achievements) all they want but you cannot disrespect truth.
Every great effort by anyone who has set a personal best or accomplished anything in this life came at a price.
I like to call it sweat equity. Every mile you put in is a little piece of real estate you gain every time you decide to lace up your shoes and get out the door for a workout.
I was watching a video of entrepreneur and founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and something he said in the video may help you.
He mentioned that successful people will do what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do.
When it comes to wanting to know how to wisely train for a half marathon this quote should remind you of the answer.
You have to be motivated and sometimes willing to do more than what is asked of you and train when others are not willing to or will want to.
Sometimes you will have to expect to wait longer than someone with more talent just to get the same result.
I have always believed that heart and desire that works will always have added horsepower against lazy talent.
We don't always have our spouses, friends or family to hold our hands to get us out the door to train.
Half marathon success and wise training is about having the fortitude to except that results don't come overnight and maintaining your focus through the ebbs and flows of training.
There is no one athlete less valuable than the next.
Our society only seems to focus on those at the top.
It forgets the other 99.99% of working professionals that may be juggling multiple jobs, growing families and are not in the best of circumstance and still fighting for their dreams.
These are the warriors. These are the athletes that don't need the limelight.
They are artists themselves learning the best ways to create their masterpiece when others don't care either way.
Winston Churchill said, success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
If you train wisely and follow some of the strategies in this post I can guarantee you that you will not only finish the half marathon well but surpass your wildest dreams and goals for the distance.
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