Today, I began officially training for a half marathon in November. Oh boy.
After the half marathon in January, I had terrible tendonitis. It lingered for a good month, and I fell out of the habit of running. My knees have always been a little prone to this, and between walking in slush and flying a bunch before the race, they just threw down and said, and I quote, “Hell no. We won’t go.”
Fast forward to July. I have a race coming up in November, it’s time to start regularly training. My goal for this race is pain free (which means no tendonitis). I’m doing leg lift exercises which supposedly help strengthen the muscles which support the knee and reduce the onset of the pain. Hoping that’s going to make a difference. Also, steady, regular training and cross training. I would like the Tuesday/Thursday runs to be the week’s easy exercises and do cardio on Monday and Wednesday. Saturday is the long run. Sunday is blob-on-the-couch day.
Tonight, I did the first run of training. Did I say oh boy above? Let me restate that as oh crap. I journeyed to ye olde rec center and hopped on the treadmill (hate treadmills, but they provide a good steady running surface).
Before: When I ran the half in January I was doing run/walk intervals of 8min/2min with a peak heart rate of maybe 155 (160 on hills). Running was targeted at 11min/mile. I could do 11 miles no problem, the last two were always iffy and how much I ran of them depended on how my knees felt.
Now: Tonight, I did a 30 minute session. I was able to to do run/walk intervals of 2min/4min. My peak heart rate was 180, which I consider to be my max heart rate. I’ve never seen it higher than that and it’s that lung-burning heart pounding state. I probably could have done 3min/3min intervals, but I’m really focused on the no pain thing, and 2 min was about the time I started being aware of my joints.
At least I know I can train up to the half marathon distance (have the car magnet to prove it). I know what to expect.
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