Half Marathon Training is in full force.

My sister Cassidy and I are following Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 1 guide and while it’s actually 15 weeks until our actual race, we decided to get a little bit of a head start. Hal has 5 programs for getting you ready for a Half and I figured why not go big or go home when picking which one to follow. Because I knew that both of us could hit the ground running, literally, 3 miles without any problem I figured this would be best for us. We started the 2nd week in January but after spending 4 nights in Kansas City for my company’s Sales Kick-off meetings, I decided to repeat week 1 twice. To confuse you, that means I’m on Day 3 of Week 3 today. And yes, that also means I ran 5 miles before getting ready for work because it’s not like I wanted to sleep past 5:30am or anything! 😉 Unfortunately the weather in Omaha has been less than ideal so all of my runs have been on the treadmill in our basement. Luckily we have an extremely nice, commercial-grade Precor treadmill so at least that is a positive but it is just not the same as being outside. I also swear that my pace is almost a full minute slower / mile on the treadmill too and I cannot figure out why there is such a discrepancy! Getting an early start for the Glass City Half + a positive attitude has me really excited for each of my runs so I’m hoping my energy levels stay up. Below I’m sharing 3 things that have proven to be crucial to my successful training days in January. Each of these three things will be getting entire Workout Wednesday posts dedicated to them over the next few months leading up to the race so I’ll elaborate more extensively on them then but for now I’m just touching briefly on their positive effects so far. Enjoy!

As always, remember that I’m not a professional, I’m not a trainer and I’m only sharing MY personal opinions/thoughts/experiences. If you want to start training for a Half Marathon, that is awesome, but don’t think that just because this particular routine worked for me that it’ll work for you or on the opposite end of the spectrum, it doesn’t mean you can’t go for a more challenging program!

Sleep

Seems like a no-brainer but when I have a solid night of sleep, my runs feel awesome. When I don’t, they don’t. Because I do my runs first thing in the morning, I rely heavily on being fully-rested so that both my legs and my lungs feel up to the mileage I’m scheduled to do. Oddly enough I can also tell if I didn’t get the right timing of sleep. My body kind of wants to go to bed by 9:45pm {call me Grandma, I’m totally OK with that!} at the latest and is ready to roll before 6am. On the weekends when I go to bed a little later and sleep a little later, the first mile or so always seem to be a little lethargic. Not entirely sure why but it’s just something I’ve noticed recently!

Hydration / Supplements

Not drinking enough water is bad for many reasons but I swear it’s like night and day on my legs if I didn’t get at least 75 oz.+ of water the day before. I run on an empty stomach {food-wise} so hydration from the previous day is key to me making it through a run since I don’t put a water bottle on the treadmill with me or carry one when I’m outside. I start my day with a glass of water, take THIS water bottle to work every day and go through it 2x completely and then have at least another 20-25 oz. in the evening. As for supplements, I’m currently addicted to AdvoCare’s Spark {Fruit Punch is my jam!} which I mix with 8 oz. of water and drink 15 minutes prior to my run and AdvoCare’s Catalyst, taking 3 pills about 30 minutes prior to my run. I also just ordered their O2 Gold and have heard great things but I haven’t tried it myself yet. Stay tuned for more about this area because it’s one of the most frequently asked fitness-related questions I’ve gotten!

Good Shoes

Good shoes are another duh. Actually all 3 of these things kind of are, but good shoes are SO important. I’m not even close to being a shoe expert and everyone has different feet, different knees, different foot issues, etc. so I cannot encourage you enough to go to your nearest Peak Performance—or athletic shoe store that has a legitimate operation that tests your running form when giving you shoe suggestions–to find out what brand and/or style is best for you. I use to run exclusively in Asics but after severe knee pair over a period of time, I switched to New Balance and now I’m in Nike. Totally weird because I’ve never liked Nike for anything other than casual sneakers. Currently I’m alternating between THIS lightweight pair and THESE with a little more cushion for longer runs. I also think there’s a huge benefit of alternating shoes because obviously you’re cutting down mileage on both.

Have you ran or trained for a major race? What are some of your best tips & tricks?! What other topics would you like to see in future Workout Wednesday posts? Share in the comments below–I’d love to hear from you!