Reexamining My Half Marathon Training Plan

On October 15 at 9:00 in the morning I will start my first half marathon, the Baltimore Half Marathon. I first started training for this race 8 weeks ago, which means that I am around halfway through training. When I started training I really didn't have any goals for myself other than to just finish the race. I have never raced anything longer than a 5K so I really didn't know what to expect for a half marathon. And even though I had a training plan written out I wasn't even sure if I was training properly since I was only running three times a week and pretty inconsistently. Then a few weeks ago I started running four times a week. I was really loving the higher mileage and was feeling stronger. However, I want to re-examine my training and my goals, or lack thereof, now that I am halfway through training. There are certain aspects of training that I need to change in order to reach my new goals for this first half marathon.

Nutrition. In the past, when I was a competitive swimmer, I ate very healthy. I became a vegetarian in order to keep my nutrition under control, and I cut out nearly all sweets and unhealthy foods. Then when I had surgery and had to quit swimming I started gaining weight, partly from not being able to swim or exercise, and partly because I was eating more unhealthy foods. My nutritional habits have especially gone out the window this summer and I really want to get back on track with them. For awhile I was eating hardly any vegetables despite being a vegetarian. All I was eating was carbs and sugary, fatty foods and I gained weight and just didn't feel great. Lately I have been working on developing better nutrition habits because I know how much it will help my training. I want to be eating at least one serving of fruit or vegetables at each meal, be drinking at least eight glasses of water a day, getting at least eight hours of sleep every night, and limiting the amount of junk food eaten, etc. Not only will eating healthier help fuel my body better, but hopefully I will lose some of this unwanted weight that I gained over the past few years.

Running Consistently. I have been running four times a week for a few weeks now and I have been really enjoying it. I feel faster and stronger, and look forward to going on these runs. Next weekend is my first triathlon so I don't want to make any major changes over the next two weeks but I want to start running five times a week. I want each run I do to have a purpose and be helping me train for my half marathon. I will do a post in a few days about my new running schedule, but I want to start incorporating different types of runs into my schedule. I also want to work on heart rate training. When I first started running my heart rate was always really high but lately it has been coming down some. I want to make sure that I am not pushing myself too hard but yet hard enough.

Cross Training. I have been doing a fair amount of cross training in the forms of biking and swimming since I am doing my first triathlon next weekend. However, I have not been too consistent with my cross training because I find the swimming boring and the biking lonely. I used to swim 10 times a week and never have a problem with being bored but that was because I was on a team and was practicing with my best friends. The school I am going to this fall (University of Maryland Baltimore County) has a beautiful long course outdoor heated pool that I plan on taking full advantage of. Plus, I am the vice president of the very new club swim team! I am hoping that being able to swim on a team again will help me regain my motivation and make swimming fun again. Additionally, I am looking into what trails are in the Baltimore area to go biking on. It probably is not the safest for me to go biking alone in a new city that has one of the country's highest crime rates so I am also looking into buying a bike trainer.


Please vote for me, Shannon Mulcahy, to become a member of the Refuel With Chocolate Milk team! I would really appreciate your support! 

Please, Please, Please Vote for Me!

I have entered to win a grant from Refuel With Chocolate Milk and I need your votes. My parents don't really support my decision to be a runner or triathlete so it would really mean a lot to me for you guys to vote for me. You can vote once a day until September 15 so please do! Go here to vote!

6 Miles

Yesterday morning I set out to run my first 6 mile run. This is the farthest I have run so far since this is the first time I am training for something longer than a 5K. When I ran 5 miles two weeks ago I struggled throughout the entire run. It was way too hot, I was dehydrated, and just miserable. After that run I was pretty nervous going into my 6 miler yesterday. I knew I wanted to run it between a 10:44-11:44 pace, which should be doable. I still was really anxious about the run though. I started off at an 11:20 pace, which felt really comfortable. My goal was to stay at a comfortable pace the entire time and not worry as much about speed. The first three miles went by quickly and comfortably, and I was really excited to turn around and head back. My pace kept increasing as I ran but I still felt comfortable so I just stuck with it. With about one mile to go, a man was smoking on the trail. It was a pretty windy day so all of the smoke was blowing in my face for over half of a mile. It was absolutely dreadful and caused me to have a lot of trouble breathing. Overall it was a great run though, and now I am really excited to tackle 7 miles next week!

Running Higher Mileage

When I first started running I was only running 2-3 times a week. I really didn't want to develop any type of injuries and I knew that I had bad knees. I have had some pretty devastating injuries in the past so I knew that I wanted to ease into running and not overdo it. But the more I run the more I love it and want to do more. A few weeks ago I started running 4 days a week and I absolutely love it. I normally do 1 tempo run, 1 steady-state run, 1 easy run, and 1 long run. I have been logging more miles and my body has been loving it. A couple months ago I was getting a horrendous pain in the bottom part of my leg. I thought running less would help the pain go away. As I am running more though I am realizing that the more frequently I run the less pain I have in my leg. I have been running faster too.

I recently found the McMillan Running website. Based on my last 5K it predicted that I should be able to run a 2:11:44 half marathon. The website also provides what times I should be doing my training runs at. There are 8 types of runs that the website says should be included into training: recovery jogs, easy runs, long runs, steady-state runs, tempo runs, tempo intervals, speed workouts, and sprint workouts. Now 8 runs a week is a lot for me, but the website got me thinking that I should be incorporating more types of runs into my training. As of now I do not want to do any kind of speed work or sprinting. I decided to try to get in 5 runs every week, with the additional run simply being a recovery jog. I don't want to push my body too hard but I also want to see what I can achieve.

Home Again

Yesterday afternoon I got home from a wonderful week at the beach with my family and my boyfriend. I had such a great time and am so glad that I had my boyfriend with me for all of it. I ran three times while on vacation, biked once, kayaked once, and did one open water swim. I planned on doing more of each but it was vacation and I got caught up in everything. I did miss my 6 mile long run last week, which was really not good. I am not going to let it get to me though. I had a great day today and am getting recommitted to my training.

I set out to run 3 miles tonight. The goal was to run each mile faster than the previous one, and hopefully run the last mile under 10:00. When I started running I felt great; better than most days. So I ran faster than I planned. But I still felt like I was running pretty conservatively and my heart rate wasn't very high. I ran the first mile in 10:09 and knew it was going to be a great run. The next mile came in at 9:31. I was so excited when I saw this number because that marks only the second time that I have run a miles under 10:00 during a training run. I know I am not the fastest runner but I have been making a lot of progress lately. I tried to push it pretty hard the last mile but my stomach was bothering me from dinner earlier so I ended up with another 9:31. I ran three miles in 28:55, which is the fastest I have run three miles other than in a race. The best part was that I was very tired or sore after finishing. I actually contemplated running another mile but I opted not to because of my stomach.

After I got home I did an Insanity workout: Core Cardio & Balance. This is one of my favorite Insanity workouts because it is somewhat of a recovery workout so it complements my running nicely. Some of the harder workouts leave me too tired to get in a decent run. All of the Insanity workouts are great though and I highly recommend the series for cross training or just getting in shape.

First Open Water Swim

Last night I hit the beach for an open water swim. Despite being a swimmer for 12 years, I have never done any type of open water swimming. I wore a cap and goggles and slowly walked into the water not sure what exactly I was going to do. I obviously know how to swim, but add in the waves, murky water, and lots of fishermen I really wasn't sure what my game plan was. I decided to play in the waves until my body was warmed up so I wasn't freezing during my swim. The boyfriend wanted to go kayaking next to me as I swam just in case, which was really comforting. I miss swimming with friends and having people to share in my love of the sport. After a couple minutes in the water I decided to just go for it and see what happened.

I tried putting my face in the water but I couldn't see anything. I didn't freak out though. I actually didn't mind that I couldn't see but I was nervous that a wave would come and crash on me. Luckily for me I have enough swimming strength to swim with my head out of the water and not feel like I'm going to drown. So that is what I did. I still would "breathe" to the side to look for the waves and then look forward to see where I was going. At first I felt really awkward but eventually I got used to it. I decided to swim to the lifeguard stand, which was about 400 yards away. I was getting pretty frustrated because the salt water was really burning my throat. When I made it to the lifeguard stand I took a couple minute break to let my throat calm down some, and then I started swimming back. I was amazed at how challenging it was swimming against the waves and the current. What I was the most unprepared for was how beautiful it was going to be. By keeping my head out the water I could see the sunset over the bay across the street. It was absolutely gorgeous.

I hope to get back in the water for some more swimming throughout the rest of the week. I really enjoyed it and want to get some more practice in the open water.

At the Beach

I won't have much time to post this week since I am at the beach but I registered for the Rock n' Roll USA, otherwise known as the National Half Marathon. If anyone else plans on doing this race let me know! It is March 17 in Washington DC!