FIRST Things First

Picking a training plan was harder than I thought.  I didn’t exactly “train” for either of the ½ marathons I ran last year.  I just tried to run as many miles as I could in the weeks before the races.  Sometimes this was 5 miles/week, sometimes 25.  I did manage at least one 10 mile run the weekends before both races but nonetheless I was terrified and felt unprepared at the starting line in Seattle, WA last June and in Folsom, CA last October.  I ran those races in 2:08 and 2:04 respectively.

I know better than to think I can wing it and finish 26.2 miles safely so I (ironically) picked the FIRST Program that I read about in an article in Runner’s World.  This program only has you running 3 days/week so from a commitment standpoint this one fit in my schedule the best.  I would 40+ hours a week and some of these programs have you running 5-6 days each week and that just isn’t in the cards for me right now.

All of my training runs are all based off of my 10k pace with 1day of speed work, 1 tempo run and 1 long run.  The idea is that you run fewer days, but train harder when you do.  They also recommend cross training 2 other days a week.

What I needed to do was figure out what my 10k pace is and since I haven’t run one of those recently I used my 7 mile race time from the CIM Relay in early December- 9:00/mi.  and from there, I was able to figure out all my training paces based on the chart below:

Long Run	10-K pace + 60 to 75 seconds/mile
Long Tempo	10-K + 30 to 35 seconds
Mid Tempo	10-K + 15 to 20 seconds
Short Tempo	10-K pace
1600m Repeats	10-K - 35 to 40 seconds
1200m Repeats	10-K - 40 to 45 seconds
800m Repeats	10-K - 45 to 50 seconds
400m Repeats	10-K - 55 to 60 seconds

My 16 week training starts Next Tuesday Feb. 14^th so for the last and next few days I am going to try my best to simulate a training week to introduce my body to these types of runs and away from my usual long distance, easy pace runs.