Halfing it Again

Last week I started training for my 3rd half marathon.  I find that I get in the best shape when I have a specific goal in mind - for example, my wedding, a vacation or a race.  It's no secret that having a goal helps with motivation.  And if I have a training program that I'm following, I'm pretty good about actually getting to the gym or lacing up my shoes and going for the run.

So why did I decide to surrender my pretty pedicures yet again?  Well, my cousin lives in Eugene, Oregon and is going to school at the University of Oregon - Go Ducks!  Over Christmas the fam was here visiting and we've all thrown around the idea of going to OR for a visit sometime and also all had been talking about getting in shape in the new year.  So I had the bright idea of all training for a half marathon in Eugene in May - two birds, one stone - and to my surprise everyone was on board!  My mom is going to walk the 13.1 and my S.I.L., my aunt and two cousins are going to run.  I'm thinking tee-shirts of some sort will need to be made for the event - Starr Runners - or some other cutesy slogan.  The race is May 2nd, so exactly 3 months from today.

I've followed relatively similar training programs for my past two halfs, but as the saying goes, if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting.  And the first half training left me with shin splints and the other left me with a quad strain.  So I'm switching it up this time.  I found a training program on Runners World.com and so far it's going pretty well.  Here was my schedule last week:

Mon: 2 miles easy (12:00-12:30 min/mile pace) [I also did weight training]
Tues: 3 x 10 min medium, wtih 2-min walk breaks (10:20 to 11:05 min/mile pace)
Wed: 30 minute walk
Thurs: 5 min walk; 20 min hard; 5 min walk (9:40-10:00 min/mile pace) [I also swam for 25 minutes]
Friday: REST
Sat: 6 miles easy (12:00-12:30 min/mile pace) with 2 min walk breaks every 7 minutes
Sun: XT

Total miles: about 13

This week I'm doing the same schedule but my "long" run on Saturday will be 7 miles and I'm going to throw some yoga classes in.  So here's to training!  And if I feel up to it and confident that I am ready, I may do the Nashville half marathon again this year which is two weeks before the one in Eugene.  But lets just say I'm not signing up for that quite yet!