Week 12 - Half and Full Marathon Training

Please Read!

There is a minor change in our meeting location for Saturday, March 23.  We are going to meet by the McDonald's right at the edge of Centennial Park.  Also, do not try to park in the Park.  You will need to find street parking somewhere nearby. 

Saturday March 23 / Sunday March 24

Location: Centennial Park

Time: 8 a.m.

Workout:  Long slow endurance.  Conversational running, 1:30 - 2:30 minutes per mile slower than 5k pace.  We will be running on the 1/2 marathon course, so you need to know the course.  Go to the race website and learn the course!  There will be gatorade at 17th and Wedgewood (mile 4-ish, and 8-ish), but you may need to consider carrying water with you as you run.  Take with your pace group leaders for advice.

Novice:  10 miles.  Run the first 8 + miles of the course.   Continue straight on Wedgewood to Blakemore, turn right on Natchez Trace back to the park.

Intermediate: 13 miles.  Run the first 10+ miles of the course through the Gulch.  Turn right left (whoops) on Charlotte, run up to 25th.  Turn left on 25th into Centennial Park.

Advanced: 16 miles.  Run the entire 1/2 marathon course.  Make a u-turn at LP field and run back to Centennial Park via Church street.    (Over Woodland street bridge onto Union.  Turn left on 5th, turn right on church.)

If you look at the training plan, intermediate runners will do this weekend's 13 mile run and a 14 mile run in two weeks.  Advanced runners did 14 last week, they will do 16 this week, and 14 two weeks from now.  Why?  Most intermediate/advanced runners are looking to run well, and not just finish.   Which is great!  I'm excited when people move from "I just want to finish" to "I want to run fast!"   But in order to run well at a half marathon, the distance cannot be an issue.  Completing 13.1 miles should not be intimidating.  That is (one of the reasons) why we do runs that are longer than the race distance.   After the next three weekend runs, you should feel very confident in your ability to finish 13.1 miles.  Once the distance is no longer intimidating, you can focus on hitting a specific time goal.

Looking ahead

Next Saturday we will have our first Saturday morning brunch.   Stay tuned for more details, and plan on joining us for a post-run brunch.

Also, next Saturday (March 30) we will have our final injury screening.  Leah Sawyer, our physical therapist/1:45 pace leader who is on injured reserve herself, will be around next week to give advice on those inevitable aches and pains.

Post-race party.   Plan on joining East Nasty for our annual post-race party extravaganza.  It will be a great time!   Once again, more details later, but leave the evening of April 27th open!