Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

I'm sorry Dave Pete. I'm afraid I can't do that...

I found the best way to motivate me to keep going and stay in shape is to set goals. So in a moment of weakness I decided to sign up for a half marathon in May. 

What did I do…?

At this point, the most I’ve ran in one session is about 5 miles so the thought of running 13 seems borderline impossible. But I’m signed up… they already charged my credit card… no turning back now.

After the reality of the situation set in, I realized I needed to get on a running plan to build up my stamina and run longer distances. I asked around and the common running plan that kept coming up was the Hal Higdon marathon training plan (http://halhigdon.com).

The thing I liked the most about Hal’s training plan is that there are a series of different training options for both a half and full marathon. The plans range from novice to expert.

Available training plans from http://halhigdon.com

I originally thought about using one of the novice plans but since I was able to run 5-ish miles already, I thought those options might be a bit slow for me. Another concern I had for the novice plans is that it had fairly low miles for the majority of the 12 weeks and then in the last few weeks of the plan, I would suddenly be hit by 10+ mile runs. I eventually went with the “Intermediate 1”, which seemed to fit me the best.

Now, this may be just my personality, but once I was on this plan I became a bit obsessed with following it. On days when I wasn’t able to complete the distances or if I didn’t have the best times to run, such as late at night, would end up causing me anxiety - which is the opposite of what I needed out of running.

It wasn’t until about 2/3 through the plan when I realized that it’s okay to miss a day here or there or to replace running with something else like riding my bike. Every once in a while, my body needed a break and I had to listen to it rather than blindly following a training plan.

I think these kinds of plans, whether it is Hal Higdon or any other plan, are great guidelines but they cannot be your only plan. You need to listen to your own body.

Pete, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

The Hal Higdon program was recommended to me by several runner friends. They are not a paid sponsor and my thoughts on his program are my own and do not reflect the thoughts of opinions of anyone else.