It has been a while since I’ve had a fitness goal that excited me. During my pregnancy, my goal was to stay active and healthy. Following Katie’s birth, my goal was once again to stay active which helped me stay physically and mentally healthy. While I was able to achieve both of these and benefited greatly, now that I’m 11 months postpartum, I’m excited to focus on a goal that helps me return to my fitness roots – running. While I’ve run more than 25 half marathons, 5 marathons and over 50 shorter races since beginning my running journey in 2006, I’ve never been able to break 2 hours in the half marathon.
I’m hoping to run a sub 2:00 half marathon at the NYCRuns Brooklyn Half marathon on October 20th!
Over the past few years, I’ve striven to improve my half marathon times. While I had a few highlights of running 2:01 half marathons along the way, I’ve had more than a few disappointments. As I look back and read multiple race recaps, a few things stand out: over-training, lack of training, lack of strength training, or lack of recovery time. I laugh as I read through prior posts and see that I was running 4-5 times a week in addition to taking boutique fitness classes on Classpass or when we lived abroad, traveling every single weekend. I wasn’t allowing my body anytime to recover. Then, when I read other recaps I realize that I went into a race with a stretching goal on very little training.
This time around, I am doing a few things differently:
- I’m balancing motherhood and a career which means my training needs to be efficient and effective.
- I have given birth and gone through a level of pain that made me stronger mentally and physically.
- I am starting my training early so I can build a strong base.
- I am reading to gain knowledge and insights so that I can train smarter. In fact, what is your favorite book or resources?
- I am working with my friend Theodora, who is a run coach. As I train for my sub-2 this summer and fall, she’s putting together a training for me. FYI, she is making plans for both remote runners and those local to NYC. Email her at Theodora@preppyrunner.com for more details.
- I realize the importance of strength training, core training, and recovery in addition to running.
- I am going to record EVERYTHING using Strava and my GPS watch.
So there you have it! I’ve shared my goal with you guys as well as with Bo and I am so excited for the training along the way. It has been a dream of mine to set an example for Katie and I can’t wait to run towards her and Bo at the finish line in October!
Awesome goal. Can’t wait to follow along! I haven’t run a sub 2 since December 2016 and I need to put in the work for one too. I found that recording everything in the Believe Training Journal was a huge help to me last marathon training cycle. I’ve heard great things about Strava!
Oh wow that is a great idea! I will definitely be getting a training journal. Thanks!
What an awesome goal, Ash – definitely something I want to aim for some day, but I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me before I can even consider it.
Good luck Mindy! You’ve done a great job with your other goals such as all the yoga progress – AMAZING!
Good luck! I am typically a 3-runs-a-week runner, and have been fortunate enough to have several sub-2 halfs, which I credit to ample rest days and making sure each run has a purpose. For me: one day is speed, one is hills, and one is endurance (long run). Sometimes I do a 4th day at race goal pace, but never more than that. I’ve used the book Run Less Run Faster for marathons and it echoes this sentiment. Best wishes in your journey!
I ran my first post partum half last month and was shocked to finally break 2 hours. Having gone through pregnancy and labor and delivery definitely made me stronger and tougher. As you know it is hard to find time to train with a little one and a job, so I really focused more on quality. I simply didn’t have time to do all the “junk” extra miles and other exercise that I used to do, which were just too much for my body. Working towards a goal, and doing something for myself, was such a great experience. I hope it is the same for you!
Congratulations Kiersten! It’s interesting as I thought about this during yesterday’s run. I was so focused on my form, the run and pace because I knew I had this one window of time to get out and run so I made every second count.