Workout Wednesday: How a Non-Runner Ran a Half Marathon

On Sunday, October 15, Katie 2 completed her first half marathon. This is a fete because prior to training, the farthest she had ever run is 7.5 miles, and that was back in high school.  (We are not going to do the math and figure out how long ago that was.) A half marathon was something she had talked about doing for a few years as but she just never pulled the trigger. After she turned 30, Katie 2 decided that it was something she needed to do, and despite not being able to convince anyone to sign up with her, she registered for the Detroit/Windsor International Half Marathon.

Christmas 2016, Katie 2’s boyfriend (now fiancé!!!) got super creative and bought her an Apple Watch and Bluetooth headphones (he thought of it all on his own- he is an excellent gift giver).  The watch is the Nike+ watch which has the athletic band and comes preprogrammed with the Nike+ Run Club app. This set the tone for the half prep she’s going to tell you about below.

[Note: Katie 1 runs half marathons all the time. She was not allowed to be the focus on this post because she is not a normal human and her commitment to running is not relatable to a normal person. Katie 1 agrees with this analysis.]

_____________________________________________________

After lots of online research and talking to runners of distance races, I knew I would need a training program. Nike+ Run Club (the app I mentioned above) touts itself as a dynamic training coach that can train a beginning runner to get off the couch and help a marathoner set a new PR. Research online says that the Nike+ Run Club App is vastly inferior to its predecessor the Nike Run Club app. I can't speak to the old platform, but I can tell you that the app gave me a great base in which to focus my training. Here's a quick and dirty summary of the app:

1. Set your goal (race? run more?)
2. Answer a few questions about your starting point (how far you can really run right now? how fast do you run?)
3. Set your preferences (How many days a week do you want your training program to be? I chose 2-3 days. I will explain why later. But for the record, the app always gave me 3.)
4. The app populates and there are different types of workouts:

• Benchmarks
• Long Runs
• Tempo Runs
• Recovery Runs
• Speed Run

Each week, you will get an assortment of workouts to help you reach your goal. The app gives pretty precise instructions on what you need to do (ex. 10 miles at 12:00 per mile; 8 400 meter sprints, all completed within 10 minutes). Every few weeks, the app will adjust your workout based on progress. Did you miss a workout? Is the speed recommendation too fast or slow? The app will adjust. 

You can also reorganize the workout schedule based on your life. I found that long runs were usually scheduled on the weekends, but for me it was easier to do them during the week when I had running buddies (more on that in a minute).

This post isn't an endorsement for the Nike+ Run Club app. I never would have gotten to the finish line if it weren't for my Precision Running class. Remember a while back when I mentioned it? The class is speed and incline based, and really pushed me to limits I never thought possible. It was also very easy to tell that I was making progress and getting faster. Some weeks I would run precisely instead of the speed workout recommended by the app (I never found a good way to get the app to count it, so the app would get confused often and think I didn't work out when I really did). Sometimes I would do the class in addition to whatever workout the app suggested, which is why only scheduling 3 workouts a week on the app worked well.

The other thing that worked is having running buddies (workout buddies make everything easier). I found a few friends at work that have joined me on my training path. Each week, we would increase our distance by about 3/4 of a mile or a mile, until eventually we were up to 12 miles. Those folks weren't training for any particular race, but slow, incremental increases weren't so bad and everyone just kept saying yes when I asked them if they wanted to join. Having a group made the runs more enjoyable, it made sure I didn't stop no matter how tired I was, and made sure I didn't back out at the last minute.

There are all sorts of training plans you can find online (Pinterest is a mecca). In the past, I've used C25K to get me moving (it stands for "Couch to 5K" and the app literally takes you from a couch potato to running a 5K in 8 weeks). The C25K app is free, but the half marathon training app isn't, so I stuck with the Nike+ Run Club.

Another thing that helped: not listening to music. Over the years, I've listened to upbeat music, either via Pandora or carefully crafted playlists. What I've learned through this process is that I start to ignore the music and just focus on how much running sucks. What works better: podcasts. having to pay attention to a conversation gave my mind something to focus on other than the fact that my foot  fell asleep, or that my sports bra was chafing, or the sweat running down my forehead and stinging my eyes. I will never go back to listening to music on my runs.

So. How did it go? I finished, so there's that. And it went fine until after the race when I fell and injured myself- par for the course in my life. I will most definitely do it again, and now I have a goal in mind, other than "finish". I want to give a special thanks to my sister Stephanie for the pictures and for coming out to cheer me on. And thanks to Nancy for being part of the Wednesday night run club!

We here at Not a Corporate Fashun Blog wanted to let you all know that no matter your fitness level, given enough time, support, and determination something like a half marathon isn't out of your reach. Go out there and get moving- and send us your pictures of your successes! We would love to see and share.