I am currently training for the Shelburne, VT half marathon on May 5, 2012. My husband and I love Vermont so any excuse to visit is perfectly fine with us. Even though the race is early on Saturday we are taking advantage of the opportunity to make it a full weekend getaway. The main reason I chose this half is because one of my dearest friends lives nearby and there is a very good chance that we will get together so I can finally meet her beautiful baby boy. He was born in February and I am dying to squeeze his adorable little cheeks in person.

Here is week one in half marathon training.

Sunday was the day after the St. Patrick’s Day Road Race which meant it was also the St. Patrick’s Day parade. We arrived at the parade at 11am. It was a nice day for the parade, but after watching float after float go by we finally left at 3 and the parade seemed to have no end in sight. I was supposed to go to ice skating at 4pm, but by the time we got home I decided to skip my lesson in favor of grocery shopping and dinner with my guys.

My runs this week were awesome. The weather was incredible and I felt speedy all week. Wednesdays have become my speed training days. I always hate the thought of doing speed intervals but once I’m done I feel great. I do these workouts on the treadmill at the gym. The goal is to run a certain number of intervals for 400 meters or .25 miles. I set the treadmill time at 60 minutes. I generally do about a half mile warm up before beginning my speed intervals. This week my first interval was at 7.0 mph for 400 meters. When I reach the distance I slow down to a fast walk to recover and have a few sips of water. I then return to a jog for about 45 seconds before beginning my next speed interval. This week I increased my speed by .1 each time so my second interval was 7.1, my third was 7.2 and so on until I reached 7.6mph on my last interval. After completing all 7 intervals I run at a normal speed until my time is done. This week I threw in some short bursts of speed at 8mph for 20-30 seconds during my last mile or so.

My 7 mile run on Friday rocked my socks off. I flew around the reservoir like there was a wind pushing me from behind. I loved it. I definitely wasn’t expecting to have a great run on this day. I didn’t get to bed until almost 3am and was up by 6. Why you ask? Well I was at the midnight showing of the Hunger Games! It was a fun night with friends, not something I would normally do. I enjoyed the book and really liked the movie.

On Saturday I decided to do something I rarely do, I lounged in bed. By the time I got out of bed it was time to make the little guy breakfast and get him ready for his ice skating lesson. I missed the window of opportunity to get my run done early. As the day wore on I toyed with skipping the run. Oh the mental conversation I had with myself. We got home late in the afternoon and I ignored my own thoughts, got my Garmin, headphones and ran out the door. Eight miles later I returned to the house feeling really great that I completed my run.

I have come to the conclusion that I thrive on a training schedule. I love having my calendar full of planned runs and workouts. It doesn’t stress me out to have to move things around or alter the schedule here and there. It does stress me out to have no schedule or plan. Since my first half marathon in October 2010 I have been consistently training for a race. Training for races keeps me focused and provides the structure I need to stick with a regular fitness routine.