Back in the (Running) Saddle

After a several-week hiatus due to some asthma ridiculousness, I’m back to training for the Disneyland Half Marathon. What whaaaat.

No, seriously, WHAT WHAT?!

I’m so behind in training that I’m a little paralyzed about how to get back on track. I should have run 8 miles this weekend in order to be up-to-date, but instead ran about 2. The good news: Mister Jess and I are signing up for a gym so I won’t have to drag myself up the hills of San Francisco, muttering expletives to myself the whole way. The bad news: …hmm. Yeah, I’m still behind.

I have 65 days left to train, people. 

Now, I know this doesn’t seem like a super dire situation, but since I’m running with Cam and Mer, I want to make sure that I’m not going to be holding them back (I can hear them saying, “no no no, you’re not going to hold us back, it’ll be fun no matter what, yay team!” right now). And I definitely don’t want to have a miserable time along the course because I didn’t get my ess (that’s shit in short-hand) together. Also, I’ve never run a race longer than a 5k, so I am kind. Of. Freaking. Out. Here.

Part of me thinks I should just try to quickly catch up to the longer weekend runs I’m supposed to be doing. However, I’m enough of a running novice to know that I’ll probably end up injuring myself doing that, and then my whole fun weekend and half-marathon-finisher status thing is a moot point.

So, here I am asking you all for advice once again. In times of question, I either run to Google or you super-smart peeps. How can I get back on my half training track by August 31st? Talk to me in the comments! 

9 thoughts on “Back in the (Running) Saddle

  1. Wish I could be helpful with some words of wisdom, but I’ve just started trying to get back into my training after a month long battle against bronchitis/asthma and other assorted illnesses! Good luck! I’ll be watching for any helpful advice in this area myself!

    • Ack, sorry you had to deal with that, Pamela! I had bronchitis last summer and it sucked. That coupled with asthma is so hard to get over! I will definitely pass on any nugget of info I find. 🙂

  2. Glad you’re feeling better! I think you should do two 30 minute runs weekly and add a mile per week on the long run- I checked the calendar, and you can start with 3 this weekend and end with 10 the week before your race. Do run/walk, take it easy on your lungs, and don’t stress. The Disney race should (and WILL) be fun! You can do it! Wish I were going to be there (wish I were running, period. But that’s a whine for a different day.)

  3. I definitely don’t think you should skip to the longer run that the schedule says you should be on. That’s just asking for trouble. Work your way up little by little. Maybe instead of alternating long and short runs every week, you go up by a mile each week. That will get to 11 miles by the race if you are at 2 now. Hope to see you ladies at DL!

  4. Disclaimer: I really know nothing about training for a 1/2 (though I need to get on that). However, since these races have a pace requirement, maybe you should focus on maintaining a pace below the 16 minute mile cut off (I think I read that somewhere on the rundisney site) as opposed to focusing on distance? I know you want to keep up with Cam and Meri, but you don’t want to get injured b/c you’re training too hard. IDK, Jess, it’s a tough call. You can do it, though. Stupid asthma, I sympathize with you there. <3

    • I know you do, my sweet Squish! I definitely don’t want to overextend myself, so I’m going to just take it slow with the training. And YES, definitely need to focus on my pace as well! So much to think about. 🙂

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