And just like that there is a week left of summer camp and a week until half marathon training cycle officially begins. I had a few goals this summer: lift heavy weights, run as many of my workouts outside as I could, be consistent in the midst of life during summer camp, and invest in the college staff that spend 3 months with us working what will hopefully be the most rewarding summer of their life.
All in all, I feel like it was pretty successful. I spent all of May and most of June following Jamie Eason’s Live Fit guide from Body Building. It was free and provided a good way for me to try new exercises, lift heavy, and have a reason to NOT run for 6 weeks. In July I started incorporating running back into my routine. It was tough since the temperatures were in the high 90’s with heat indexes over 100 for multiple weeks. I had to take it slow and ease back in ☀️🔥💦.

The last 4 weeks I’ve been following Hal Higdon’s intermediate half marathon plan mixed with swimming and strength training to make a gradual build in speed work and distance. The first week of my half marathon plan calls for a 90 min run (probably between 8 – 8.5 miles) so I wanted some progression before week 1 and the intermediate plan was ideal.

I ran all but 2 run this summer outside which I’m hoping will pay off once the temperature actually cools off (hopefully in the form of extra blood plasma and oxygen carrying red blood cells that won’t be needed any longer to keep my body cool but can be used to help me go faster). I’m swimming the Tall Chief Open Water Challenge in Tulsa (great event if you’re thinking about a triathlon but want some water experience first). Being signed up for this swim for the second year in a row has helped me stay accountable to cross training and its just fun 😊.

I’ve spent a little bit of time looking at running plans but I always come back to Hal Higdon’s. First of all, I have run a personal best every time I’ve used his plans. Secondly, I’ve never felt over trained or gotten injured. Other plans I’ve looked at are always higher milage or more days / week running. His plans are more flexible and I don’t feel guilty not hitting 40+ miles a week. I’ve told some of you before but I am NOT a high milage runner. I do better running purposeful, time specific milage rather than tons and tons of milage.

That being said, below is a schedule I’ll be following for the Bass Pro Half Marathon on November 6th. It is the advanced half marathon plan laid out on Hal Higden’s training site with a few modifications. I like Sunday to be an easy day so long runs don’t interfere with church so the week is shifted back one day. I also half two classes I teach at the YMCA that I’ll be using as strength training (getting paid to strength train is always nice J). And lastly I added swimming the agenda so I can continue to train for Tall Chief.

 P.S. If any of you swimmers want to give me workouts for the pool that would be awesome. I’ll be swimming the mile and half no idea what I’m doing 🏊😊.

I’m excited for fall and to get back in the swing of things but like I mentioned earlier, these girls were one of my priorities this summer and I have been challenged to grow and love in news ways because of them. Thanks for letting me into your lives this summer…I’m forever changed because of you!

And now I’m ready to get to it! Who else is ready for fall? Or as they say at Oiselle, “Head up, Wings out”