By Amy, on July 26th, 2010%
Last weekend, I completed my first half marathon. I wasn’t first, and I wasn’t last. My time was, well, twice that of some of my friends, but in the end it didn’t matter. I checked the ol’ half marathon off my bucket list. I also learned some valuable lessons throughout training and the race itself. Oh, and I got a kick-arse medal. Let’s not forget about the medal.
Before the race:
Pee. Trust me on this.- Drink lots of water all week long, especially the day before and morning of the race. This is why #1 is important.
- Don’t drink four margaritas 18 hours pre-race, even if you tell yourself it’s okay because you’re getting top-shelf margaritas on the rocks with extra lime and salt on the rim. Margarita salt is not an acceptable substitute for an electrolyte sports drink.
- Go to the race expo. Pick up your packet. Make some impulse purchases you will later regret because everyone else is buying that balance bracelet. Stare at your race bib. Smack yourself in the head for thinking you could actually do a half marathon.
- Follow a training plan. There are so many plans out there – find one that works for you and your schedule. Mine included 3 days/week of walking and/or running, 1-2 cross training or strength training days and 1 active recovery/yoga/pilates/easy walk day.
- Don’t be afraid to modify the plan. I suffered many setbacks due to knee problems and a sprained foot/ankle. I made adjustments (like biking or doing the elliptical instead of walking or running because they were low-impact). I had to cut one long “run” short because my foot hurt so bad.
» Continue reading Lessons I learned from my first endurance race
By Amy, on June 25th, 2010%
Perhaps you’ve heard of speed work. You’re curious about it, but don’t know how to keep track of time. Well, if you have a Garmin, chances are you can create your own interval workout. Here’s how:
Hit the mode button.
Then, click Training>Workouts>Interval
You can select to do your interval reps based on:
Distance, Distance Rest
Distance, Time Rest
Time, Time Rest
Time, Distance Rest
You can also include how many reps you want to do AND if you want to include a warmup/cooldown.
The first time I tried it, I set mine up for 3 min run then 1 min rest for 10 reps with warmup/cooldown. Basically, when you . . . → Read More: Setting up intervals for speed work on your Garmin
By Marty, on February 10th, 2010%
If you’ve never heard of the Couch to 5K running program, check out this link for the program description. In a nutshell, it is a run/walk interval training program designed to take a person from a couch potato to being able to run for 30 minutes straight in roughly 9 weeks. I say “roughly 9 weeks” because you are encouraged to repeat a week if either you were unable to complete it or don’t think you’re ready to progress to the next week. I can personally vouch for the success of this program, as I . . . → Read More: Mobile App Review – C25K by Alex Stankovic
By Tracey, on January 14th, 2010%
I’ve been hearing from a lot of people lately about how they are intimidated by running, don’t think they can run, or plain just don’t WANT to run. Hey, that’s fine! However, did you know that you can get also a really great workout without all the impact by simply turning up the incline on the treadmill while you walk? Walking uphill is an awesome way to get your heart rate up while leaving out all that pounding on your joints. You’ll also burn a ton more calories than just walking on a flat surface If you really crank . . . → Read More: The Uphill Battle
By Tracey, on November 9th, 2009%
Is the time change killing your workouts? I don’t know about you but this week really had a strange effect on me with the sun setting so early all of a sudden. It seems these past few days that by 5:30pm now all I want to do is curl up with a blanket and a good book. One of my favorite things over the summer was to run by the lake at sunset, but now unless I want to do this in the middle of the afternoon it looks like I’ll have to wait until spring. I’ve been mentally . . . → Read More: Mix It Up
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