THE COMEBACK TRAIL: HALF MARATHON TRAINING IN 10 WEEKS

I undertook a self-imposed challenge this summer — to go from zero running to being able to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) in 10 weeks.

That has to be the most painful thing I've done in a while. Nearly every step of running hurt all summer long.

A thumbnail from an episode of Zero To Half Marathon video series on YouTube.

While I have run on and off (maybe a couple of miles on the tready every couple of months) I was basically starting from scratch. The first day I ran 1 mile with a lot of pain. By the end of the first week I ran/walked three miles. I have to tell you, 13 miles seemed impossible from where I was.

But I kept at it running 2-3 days a week and increasing my long run day by a mile every week.

By Sunday of week 10 I ran 13.2 miles in 2 hours and 23 minutes. Slow and too much walking but I made it.

There's a half marathon race on Sept. 23 that I may run but my main goal was/is to just get in shape and run long runs when I feel like it.

I also recorded my "Zero to Half Marathon" challenge in a series of YouTube videos on our YouTube channel. You can find them here: Zero to Half Marathon

Here a few more of the thumbnails (cover images) from the series on YouTube:

The first week of training video.

Video of Week 2

the final week's video

As a follow up on the challenge to go from zero running to half marathon distance in 10 weeks,  which ended on Labor Day, after hitting 13 miles I backed off on my training  a little. For me hitting 13 miles in 10 weeks was really a struggle and I did not want to get injured so for now I'm limiting my long runs to 10 miles and trying to increase my over all weekly mileage, which has been less than 20 a week all summer.

Thanks for stopping by and maybe I'll see you on the road. Take care and be safe.