Training for Half Marathon

As the New Year begins, all the usual resolutions are being made. All the usual goals plotted. This year my plan is to begin my training for my first half marathon in April. I will have to start back at near ground zero as I have put my running on hold for the last few months. So some of my future blogs will be the progress of this plan and tips I have amassed from various sources.

Tapping Your Inner Runner

Rob Udewitz, PhD., from January 2011 Runners World Magazine, advises on winning the mental battle to hit the road is to focus on the following key points:

• Focus on time-Not Distance
• Think Ahead-How you will feel afterwards
• Reward Yourself
• Listen to Negative Feelings-Recognize & Find Solutions to Resolve that Negativity
• Set Goals the Night Before-Get Committed

According to Vonda Wright, Orthopedic Surgeon, the American College of Sports Medicine Guidelines call for : 

• 2 resistance training sessions per week. 
• 8-10 exercises working the major muscle groups
• 8-12 repetitions per exercise

Runners should target core muscles, the glutes, hips & lower back, as well as the legs and upper body. They should also work muscles differently once or twice a week with something besides running, like spinning.  

Stretching should be done AFTER warming up and done so GENTLY. Runners should focus on stretching calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, butt & quads after every run. Another option to this is doing a Pilates or Yoga class.