How To: Training for a Half Marathon

I have successfully rededicated myself to running by completing my first half-marathon on October 28! Reflecting on my half-marathon training, I've established four pillars that directly contributed to my success:

1. Why: Make it personal 

    During your training, it's inevitable that some days you'll get up, put on your running shoes, and your feet will feel as heavy as bricks. As my high school coach would say, you'll have a "monkey on your back." It feeds you discouraging mantras, your goals feel unachievable, and you may not be reaping enough results to feel like you are progressing. This is a normal part of the process, but how you combat it distinguishes you from the people that will give up and never cross the finish line.

    The purpose behind your training will hold as your foundation on those days where putting your running shoes on feels more like a burden than an opportunity. How you motivate yourself is a personal choice, but in my experience as a runner, the successful, ambitious runner grows from running with a strong sense of purpose. I reccomend choosing a purpose that is emotionally relevant to you and not rooted in shame. Running should hold a place of celebration in what your body is capable of doing, and achieving your goal should promote self-confiednce while not diminishing a former version of yourself. Again, achieving your goal should be celebrated as a demonstration of growth, not the end of a former version of yourself. 

    Common motivators I've come into contact with include: 

- Running to honor a relative, friend, or coach

- Running for a personal cause (i.e. fighting addiction)

- Running as a practice of self care (i.e. building a new lifestyle rooted in healthy choices)

- Running as an enhancement of self discipline practices

For an elaboration on my why, I will be linking my personal story - once written:)

2. Training: Prepare ahead of time

    Another pillar that supports your success for any sort of training is preparing a flexible plan ahead of time. The ultimate goal is to limit the obstacles between you and getting your workout done to advance your training. In planning your training ahead of time, you avoid the scenario of either planning your training week by week in bulk, or day by day. Not only will this lead to decision fatigue, but without the reminder of your workout on a planner you see daily, you're likely to skip workouts and not show up prepared.

    Planning my own training was an obstacle I encountered freshman year of college. My only experience in running leading up to college was through a school-organzied team led by a coach. Our coach told us what to do, and we did it - no second guessing and no decision making necessary. Obviously, this all changed when I began running independently in college. I didn't have a coach, I didn't have a trainer, and I didn't have anyone besides myself figuring out what I needed to do. Although I understood the types of workouts I could do, I didn't have a plan that laid it all out. I felt directionless and had a difficult time staying consistent enough to regain my fittness. 

    My most recent experience, however, was vastly different, thanks to one of my training partners and Hal Higdon. For those of you that don't know, there's a million training plans online, a large chunk of which are inspired by author and coach Hal Higdon. With varrying degrees of difficulty and experience taken into account, Hal has a multitude of resources for new and advancing runners on his website. My training partner, Allen, used a training plan from Hal's website and modified the arrangement of the plan to be compatible with our timeline and schedules. He created a training plan in order to guide us every step of the way. We produced both a hardcopy form and a digital calendar, and positioned them in spots we often see - the refrigerator door, my Google Calendar, etc. 

    With these training plans, we were never left wondering what we should do to get ready for our race. The expectations we set for ourselves were clear, the pathway to a half-marathon felt direct, and planning when we would do our workouts was exponentially easier. Thanks to Allen and Hal, a large burden of creating the map to the finish line was gone, all I had to do was take that path.

 

3. Partners: Hold yourself accountable

    Speaking of training partners, mine were immense support in my experience preparing for our race. As I mentioned, I was used to running with a team, and this benefit of team sports became what felt like another obstacle I faced in returning to running. Throughout middle and high school, I was used to feeling energized by my teammates, our competition, and my coaches, but this element was missing once I graduated. I didn't have anyone to hold me accountable but myself, and honestly, that wouldn't work too well for freshman-year Emma. 

    This time around, my training partners, Allen and Elisabeth, were energizers for the days when I didn't feel like getting out of bed for a run. Knowing I would have the company of "teammate" pushed me forwards. Eventually I hope to grow into a runner who has the self discipline to train fully independently, but I have no shame in saying that I find more success in running with others. Running with company is mutually beneficial in regards to accountability, makes the experience overall far more enjoyable, and alleviates some of the natural resistance you may feel towards doing your workout. 

    My admiration goes out to athletes who train independently for these events, because without my buddies, I'm not sure I would've completed this in the first place.

4. Lifestyle: Implement your goals into your daily life

    Finally, your lifestyle should support your training, not fight it. You can prepare all you want, but if you aren't prioritizing your sleep, recovery, nutrition, and discipline, you won't be successful. 

    As a student, this has been an important skill I've learned this semester. I can want to run a half-marathon, but whether or not I implement this into my lifestyle determines my success. If I stay awake until 2am, sleep late into the day, depend on coffee to fuel my life, push schoolwork off until it's due, and eat or drink things that don't support my goals, there's no way I'm going to wake up at 8am on a Sunday and run 9 miles. That just doesn't make sense. There is far too much discordance between the life I want and the life I have. If you want to be fit, your job is to push your lifestyle as close to your goal as possible, but with balance. Eat the yummy dessert you want after dinner, but go to bed with enough time to get 8 hours of sleep. Hang out with friends on a Friday night, but consider a sober night. Whatever your lifestyle may be, promote what supports your training, and find compromises that push you in the right direction. By focusing on what contributes to the foundation of your training, the process will be far more successful.