The brain can be your greatest enemy or your most powerful tool on race day. As your most powerful tool, your brain can help you reach your true physical potential; as your greatest enemy, your mind can become a negative space that yields a blow to both your confidence and your performance. Learning to get out of your own head on race day is an essential step to enjoying racing and reaching your peak performance potential. Yet as many runners can attest, it’s one of those things that is far ...
Half Marathon
The Anatomy of a Training Plan: Half Marathon Peak Week
There is a difference between theory and practice. You can know the training principles as abstract concepts, but putting them into practice in a training plan can be a completely different story. You can read all the articles on Runner’s World but unless you know how to translate the theory into practice, you may end up with a hodgepodge of different elements rather than a training plan progressing toward a particular goal. I thought it would be a fun exercise to examine the anatomy of a ...
How to Taper for a Half Marathon
Say the word “taper” to a group of runners and you will receive an array from responses from “I hate the taper” to “I love the taper” to “I don’t taper.” But whether you love it or hate it, the taper works, and not just for the marathon. Tapering can make the difference between running a mediocre half marathon and achieving a PR on race day. But exactly what the taper looks like is different than marathon tapering - so here’s how to taper for a half marathon. Granted, if you are racing a ...
Snohomish Women’s Run Half Marathon Recap {1:34:57}
On Sunday, May 6, I ran the Snohomish Women’s Half Marathon. Now, a few days later, the race still feels surreal. Going into this race, I had a clear idea of where my fitness was. I have goals, but I don’t put timelines on them. I’ve learned that I can’t force a finish time until my fitness is there. I decide a finish time goal based on how my training has gone and include a range: for this race, my goal was 1:34-1:37, based on how the day went. Throughout all of my peak workouts, I averaged ...
Racing in the Rain: Tips to Run a Good Race in Bad Weather
No matter where you live in the country, rain can happen on race day. As this post goes live just a few days before the 2018 Boston Marathon, the forecast predicts cold rains on Marathon Monday. And in Seattle? Well, we have races that are called “Rain Run Half Marathon” for a reason. Racing in the race is not the ideal, but it certainly is reality. Inclement weather does not have to result in having a bad race. With the right gear, adjustments, and mindset, you can still run a strong race ...