I’m about to change and head out the door to meet with my new running coach, Jake! To make the most of this 60 minute session, I’ve typed up an agenda with my goals, past history, and some questions I have right off the bat. I’ll let you know how it goes!!!
Kelly’s Half Marathon Coaching Session
Nutrition: eats a whole foods, plant-based diet with very few refined sugars or refined carbohydrates
Goal: To run 9:30 pace for the Chilly Half Marathon on November 8th, 2015
Current Fitness Status: Ran two half marathons and was in decent shape in Fall of 2014. Over the winter, was running about 10 miles per week with 2-3 spin classes a month. Got sick with a cough / bronchitis and haven’t run for the past 6 weeks.
Experience: This will be my 6th half marathon. Half Marathon PR is 10:01 pace in November of 2014. 5k PR is 8:58 pace on January 1, 2015. Best timed mile was 7:45 in August of 2014.
Goal for this session: Would like to come up with a game plan for this summer. Will be up in Maine until July 27th, and will have a babysitter so that I can run 3 mornings a week, possibly 4. Hoping to come up with a plan for gaining a solid foundation for starting a more specific 12 week half marathon training plan beginning in August, when I will be 3 months and 1 week away from the Chilly half marathon.
Future coaching: Interested in the possibility of some e-mail coaching while I’m up in Maine. Also plan to set up coaching when I return in August for an individualized half marathon training plan.
Current questions:
- How helpful is biking / low impact cross training – would I be better of spending my time running if I can only train 3-4 times a week this summer?
- Would it be better to work on building up my distance again, or increasing my speed, first? I could work up to running 10 miles at a slow pace, or I could take longer to build up to 10 mile runs and run closer to my target pace. Which would be better?
- I’ve used the FIRST plan which has three key workouts a week, but always found it too challenging to complete all of them in a given week. Should I try the FIRST plan with slower paces?
- How do I figure out what my target pace should be for my summer runs, since it’s been 6 weeks without running? Should I build up to 10 miles a week and then do a timed run to gauge current fitness level?
- What are the best strength training exercises for runners that don’t require fancy equipment, and how often should I be doing them?
- Should I do an interval, tempo, and long run workout this summer, or just build up my mileage and do more targeted workouts when I return in August and start a 12 week training plan?
- If I planned to do an interval, tempo and long run in a given week and had to skip one, which one should I drop, or should that depend on which ones I did well in previous weeks?