Half-Marathon Training Program Kickoff!

So the Kickoff meeting for the Half-Marathon program was Wednesday night at 7 p.m. I arrived just a few minutes before it started, and was lucky to find a parking space - even though I had to parallel park. (Ugh.)

My first impression on going in was that there were A LOT of people. I also noticed that there were not enough chairs for everyone - maybe 1/2 of the people there had chairs to sit in. I also noticed that people were carrying sheets of various colored paper. I tried to find out where to get those papers, but instead found the table for the Run/Walk group.

I'd been debating on whether I should go with the Run/Walk group or go with the Couch to Half group. After talking to one of the Pace leaders in our group (David) I found out that they do a 3:1 ratio (3 run: 1 walk) which sounded good to me. So I decided that I would go with that particular group for my training.

Shortly after talking to David, it was time for the meeting to start. The creator/owner of RaceNation.com spoke for awhile and encouraged us all to join. RaceNation is a Facebook type program geared towards runners - it isn't available nationwide yet though (not sure exactly where all it is available.) Then the founder of DRC spoke for awhile. He talked about motivation, and the reasons why we might be there, and the things or reasons that might stand in our way.

Finally, Chris, the training program director got up and talked. He told how the training program first started 7 years ago with only 100 people and was only for a 1/2 marathon. Now, with this training program, nearly 700 people have signed up and there are programs for the 1/2 and the full marathon. He also talked about the various aspects of the training program, and the definitions of some of the terms used.

He then took around 15 or so questions from the group members. Finally, he introduced the different Pace Leaders - 26 in all.

All of this was great, but I had two very annoying distractions. One was my back was NOT liking standing for that long (not to mention my shoulder was hurting from me hanging on to my purse.) And the other much more annoying distraction was how RUDE people in the back were being - I don't think there was total quiet for even a minute! Quite often I couldn't hear what was being said due to the people talking behind me.

At 8:15 the talking part of the program was over, and we could go talk to the Pace Leaders which we'll be working with over the next 23 weeks. I tried letting my PL know that I would be missing the first long run this weekend, but someone else cut in front of me before I could get that across. So I headed over to the table where the training programs were located.

Looking at the training plan, it looks like I will be doing my first half-marathon on November 1, and then doing a second one on December 13.

They have Monday and Friday as rest days, Tuesday and Thursdays as 3 mile easy runs, Wednesdays as a variety of types of group runs, Saturday's as Long runs, and Sundays for cross training. Hmmm.... Knowing myself as I do, I think I am going to have to switch out Sunday and Monday. Sunday can be my rest day, and Monday my cross training day.

The first long run is 4 miles. The most I've ever done so far is 3.5 miles. Since I'm doing the Chi Running class on Saturday, and already have other plans on Sunday - I'll have to do the 4 miles on Monday - on a treadmill. Then Tuesday will be my crosstraining day. Should be interesting.