76 Days and counting until San Diego

Wow, the Rock and Roll San Diego Half Marathon is sneaking up on me. I'm slowly getting back into a serious training program, but struggling to push through and stay motivated. Perhaps it is because I know the impending pain about to be thrust upon my body as I train for this half, and (hurts to even think about) the pain to be had post race.




While brainstorming this weekend, I came up with a few lessons learned from the first half. So, I thought I would share my plan to make the second half marathon slightly less painful.



1. Yoga, stretch, and more yoga. Last summer I found a yogi and a class that I love, it was reasonably priced, good timing, and close to home. I attended class two days a week and felt amazing. I gaining flexibility, had fewer headaches, and just felt better overall. When I started a new job in November I couldn't make it to one of the classes I was attending regularly, then they canceled the weekend class I was attending. I attempted to do some yoga on my own, but didn't follow through. So, for the next 11 weeks, I am going to get back into the yoga habit. I know as the miles start to increase stretching and keeping those muscles relaxed is so important. I also had a back spasm during the first race and I do not want that to happen again.



2. Drop a few pounds. I'm not talking anything crazy here, but the less weight your moving over 13 miles, the easier it is going to be. With a few modifications in my diet and as the miles start increasing on a weekly basis, the weight will drop. I just need to continue to monitor this, because it is also easy to gain weight as you train due to increased hunger.



3. Making my own training program. There are many great training programs for purchase or for free on the internet. The key to any program you chose is actually committing to following it. Take a realistic look at the plan and your life and make sure they work together. I followed a plan for the first half, as the miles started to increase I did not always have time to follow the plan exactly, that got discouraging and I started to slack. Towards the end I found myself trying to play catch-up which is a bad idea and can cause injury. So this time I have incorporated some different plans to make my own, borrowing from: FIRST training , www.saltlakerunningco.com, and of course Hal's .