1/2 Marathon Training: Yes, it’s still happening.

Posted by beth on September 4, 2010

I know I haven’t updated y’all in a while on my running, and that’s mainly because I haven’t really been running. However, I have taken two salsa lessons and done some yoga, so I’m not completely just lounging around. Lauren and I went running this morning, though, and I am proud to report that I can run for three whole minutes at a time! Did you know that was possible? I surely did not. Whitney can apparently do FIVE minutes at a time (She’s an overachiever and had already gotten up, finished her run, come back home and showered before Lauren and I got dressed.), so she’s ahead of me, but that’s ok. We’ve still got like five months before the race. I’ll catch up.

I was talking to a co-worker who runs marathons a couple of weeks ago, and she said that when she does a marathon, she runs for three minutes and walks for one minute, and she just repeats that the whole way. That sounds good to me, although I’ll be ok with running for three and walking for two if that’s as far as I get in the training. The walking is enough time to catch your breath, but not so much that your body believes you’re in cool-down mode thus making the next running time come as a shock. And now that I know I can run for three minutes, I’m starting to feel like this thing is actually possible.

Of course, today we did two 3-minute runs and two 90-second runs with 3-minute and 90-second walks in between. And we also only did all that for about half an hour, so we definitely need to work on our stamina, but still, the more I train, the easier it is to believe that I’ll be able to do it. And shoot. We’ve got five months. We’re golden.