Getting Ready

I had an epiphany at the dentist this week. There I was, with my dark shades on(to avoid splatters) and earphones in(to avoid the sound of drilling) listening to a favorite podcast station. Sarah and Dimity, from Another Mother Runner, were talking about how long you should train and how much of a base you should have before you get going.Base...interesting.

I never thought that I would have to "get ready" to train. I thought that is what training was...getting ready. But when I stop to think about my two half marathons there was a definite difference in how "ready" I felt. I took almost a full month longer to train for my first half-marathon than my second. And even though my second marathon was faster, I felt like I wasn't as strong as I could have been or as strong as I had been for my first. Hmmm....Base, what a concept. 

Sometimes I feel like such a newbie. I mean really, building up your endurance so you are ready to train hard, seems like a no-brainer. So before I go on and pick my training plan, I am going to build my base.

Considering that I just took two weeks off and that I just today got the okay from the doc to go for it again (I cheated and went out for a few easy runs this week, shhhh...don't tell), I have a lot of work to do. It is amazing to me how QUICKLY you lose endurance when you stop/break from running, even for a short time.

• This past week: run 2 miles X 4
• Jan 9-15: 3 miles x 4
• Jan 16-22: 4 miles x4
• Jan 23-27: 5 miles x 4

Jan 30th: start half marathon training...which half marathon are you training for you ask??? Stay tuned. 

I'll check in and let y'all know how the base is going. 

Runners,

• What is your optimal base? 
• Are you always "half-marathon ready" or do you ride the roller coaster of endurance?

Jess