Finding the Perfect Training Plan

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By Megan Cox

So, as I strengthen my protesting legs over the next few weeks and wait for the doctor to give me the thumbs up to start really working out again, I’ll be planning my next move toward my December race. Many half-marathon training programs are three to four months long; therefore, I can definitely use June and July to get into 5K and then 10K shape.

My next step, then, is finding a good 5k training program, but this mama of two little ones has some strict requirements. First of all, I don’t want to dedicate more than three, maybe four days a week to training. Pre-baby, this would have been crazy talk for me, a DINK (dual-income-no-kids) professional woman whose hobby was basically being top-of-the-line fit and doing whatever the heck I wanted in my non-work hours. Now I don’t know the meaning of “non-work” hours!

Long-story short, I need a program that’s easy on the time commitment and won’t take more than four to five weeks. Because then, let’s face it, I’ll have to get moving onto training the next distance.

So, after some good old fashioned Internet surfing, I came up with these three abbreviated 5k training programs:
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Hello, Legs! Part 2: The Warm-Up

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By Megan Cox

As mentioned in my previous post, my personal trainer friend, Katie Howard of You and Improved Fitness in Edmond, Oklahoma, gave me a “wake up your legs” workout that I can start using before my feet hit the pavement.

Because I’m not really in the position to go to the gym yet, what with a newborn and everything, Katie’s recommendation included exercises I can do from the comfort of my home.

Basically, I started with the recommended five minute warm-up—some running in place—that I’ll admit left this tired body feeling a little breathless! But at least it woke all those slumbering leg muscles! Then I proceeded to do one set of each of the following exercises, 10 repetitions for each (Katie’s recommendation was 8 to 12 repetitions, so I split the difference).

  • Knee Extensions. Using a chair, sit up straight with your feet hip distance apart. Raise one foot so that the leg is parallel to the floor. Then lower that foot back to the starting position. Repeat 8 to 12 times and then repeat on the other side.
  • Squats. The biggest safety issue to remember with squat is to make sure your knees to do not extend over your toes. Squat as if you’re sitting back into a chair.
  • Lunges (both forward and sideways). Like the squat, make sure you knees do not extend over your toes.
  • Heel Raises. Raise up on your toes as high as you can.

After I tried these, I’ll admit that the legs protested after their long vacation, but if anything, using my muscles felt good—a tiny step toward where I’m going. I finished with stretching, as recommended, and waited to see what price I would pay the next day.

The good news is that, on day two, the muscles feel used but not abused, and that’s a good thing when you’re chasing after a two-year-old with a newborn in your arms!

Next up—shoe shopping!

This is a guest post by Megan Cox, an Oklahoma City-based novelist, writer and contributing blogger for HalfMarathons.Net. Learn more about Megan at her website.

Hello Legs! Back to Basic Training

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By Megan Cox

So I’m watching the OKC Memorial Marathon last week and getting really psyched about racing again when I realize one major thing: I’ve got a lot of work to do.

I haven’t done a serious, feel-the-quads-burn leg conditioning workout for a while. When I say a while, I mean about nine months of pregnancy, seven months of I’m-trying-to-get-pregnant-so-I’m-not-going-to-push-it, nine months of breastfeeding baby number one, and nine months of pregnancy before that. So, that comes to what? Two years and nine months of vacation for my leg muscles. Sheesh!

Don’t get me wrong—I ran shorter distances (3 to 4 miles), sweated on the elliptical, and shook my booty in some Zumba classes up through the third month of my second pregnancy (you keeping all this straight?), but I haven’t completed an honest-to-goodness conditioning workout in quite some time. Because of this, I figured I’d better talk to one of my personal trainer friends, Katie Howard of You and Improved Fitness in Edmond, Oklahoma, for some tips.

First off, she gave me some really sound advice about easing back into things. This is probably a good thing, as I definitely have a rep for taking the hard road, which can easily end in a physical, mental, and/or emotional implosion. My family, especially my husband, would prefer not to deal with the imploding me, so I’ll take Katie seriously.

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Just Get Moving: It Doesn’t Take a Lot of Running to Benefit

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All you need to do to gain the lion’s share of health benefits from running and exercise is just to start moving, say a pair of news stories that were published recently in the New York Times and ABC News.

The first story, reported on ABC News’s website this weekend, looks at a Danish research study on the benefits of cardiovascular exercise in a study called the Copenhagen City Heart Study, which has tracked the heart health of more than 19,000 participants since 1976. All you need to benefit and live a longer, healthier life — and add as much as six years to your lifespan — is to get out and run for an hour a week, the research suggests:

“We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don’t actually need to do that much to reap the benefits.”

Read the full story on ABCNews.com here.

The ‘First 20 Minutes’ are the most important

The second story I came across this weekend that I found fascinating was an interview with The New York Times’s Gretchen Reynolds, who authors a weekly column in the paper’s Health section as well as writing a popular blog for its website called “PhysEd.” She’s compiled the wisdom she’s learned through a 20-year career of writing and reporting on health, fitness and exercise for the paper, and learned that it’s possible we need to exercise less, and not more, to stay healthy and fit.

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Introducing Megan Cox

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Megan Cox at the Baltimore Marathon

We’re going to be doing things a little differently with the blog section of HalfMarathons.Net. Though posts have admittedly been few here, we’re going to be introducing some new writers to tell their stories of training, running, racing and achieving their goals.

The first of these writers is Megan Cox, someone whom I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know recently. She’s a novelist from the Oklahoma City area, and has quite a story to tell about having a baby and getting back in shape to run a half marathon, which she’ll do later this year.

Here’s Megan in her own words, on where she’s been and what she’ll write about:

“I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Megan Cox, and I’m a new blogger for HalfMarathons.Net. For the next few months, I’ll be telling you about my journey from being super pregnant and having a baby just two weeks ago to running my first race in four years this December, the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon.

I promise to chat about other stuff as well—things that affect runners at all different stages, such as getting back in shape after taking time off from running, fitting running schedules into work schedules (because a paying job is still necessary, right?), and trying awesome workouts that I find in a variety of places—the web, magazines, etc. In addition, I’ll be sharing tips from experts, including personal trainers, competitive runners, and even psychologists, on how we can all overcome the challenges in our lives to train for the ultimate racing experience—the half marathon.
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Big Sur Marathon in Photos: The 21-Mile Race

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While I work on the complete recap of the spectacular 21-mile race at this Sunday’s Big Sur Marathon from Big Sur to Carmel, Calif., I wanted to go ahead and post some of the scenes from the race, so you can get a feel for what’s in store if you decide to run it next year.

You’ll notice that the weather was much clearer on Saturday, when I drove the course with my buddy Rob, who traveled out to California with me to run the race, than it was on Sunday, the actual race day. The fog and clouds were definitely more of a factor on race day — and the wind — so I’m really glad I got as many shots as we did on Saturday. Still, there’s lots of race day snapshots here that are gorgeous as well.

So without further ado, here’s how the Big Sur Marathon went down, starting with a view of Hurricane Point, as you’re coming down the hill and approaching the famous Bixby Bridge:


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Sign up for TNT and save 50%

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For the last week of April, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program is offering a 50% discount off the cost of signing up for their marathon, half marathon, triathlon and other distance training programs, starting on April 22 and finishing on May 1.

Here’s the link to sign up and get the 50% discount — just make sure you use the promo code “I AM READY” when you submit your registration. You’ll get both a community of people with which to train in the weeks and months leading up to whatever race you choose, and the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping to raise money for a really wonderful cause.

Learn more about Team in Training and how to sign up at the Team in Training website.

21 Miles in Big Sur. Am I Crazy?

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In two weeks, a good friend of mine and I will board a plane and head to Monterey, Calif., to run in the 21-mile race at the Big Sur Marathon. This should be interesting.

It’s been at least a decade since I have run this far in a race — as readers of this site probably know well, I’ve been sticking to the half marathon distance since the middle of the 2000s, and haven’t run a full marathon since 2001′s Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego. So why, exactly, am I doing this, you might ask?

It sure sounded like a great idea when I signed up for the race back in November. I’ve had visions of running past the waves crashing against the Pacific coastline, gorgeous views looking out onto the ocean and the mists floating in the air ever since then, and have had the best of intentions with regards to training for the race. But to be honest, my training has fallen far short of what it should have been for this race, due to a number of personal factors, including adopting a Golden Retriever puppy (and learning that he prefers to walk, not run, especially when he was really little — though as he grows up, he’s learning to like running more and more).

Still, I’m planning on pressing ahead and going out to California to run the race. After all, the plane tickets have been paid for and the hotel rooms have been booked. And honestly I am really looking forward to being on the course, and running along the Pacific Coast Highway (the Big Sur race is one of those that Runner’s World‘s Bart Yasso has said you should do at least once in your life).

It’s just that with this race, I’m really going to have to reach down deep and find something within myself to finish those 21 miles. Because they are going to be a CHALLENGE with a capital “C.” Maybe that’s what running — and life — really are all about sometimes. Occasionally, we do need to break out of our comfort zones — which, in my case, has been the 13.1-mile distance — and reach for something we think we can’t really do.

Well, I’m about to find out whether I can do it or not. I’ll keep you posted on how things turn out in Monterey. Have any of you ever set a goal you weren’t sure you could reach, whether it was with your running or anything else?