And So It Begins...

Well now that we've given away another half marathon registration, it's time for me to turn my focus elsewhere - training! Yes, I will also be running the Chicago Half Marathon (as I've mentioned), and my training schedule kicked off this week!

Now I won't lie - I'm a little more excited about this September 9th race moreso than the June 9th one I registered for (I ended up downgrading to the 5k due to imminent heat and lack of training). Don't get me wrong, the Allstate 13.1 Marathon Series was a fantastic event, I just wasn't as excited to run the actual race due to my lack of training -  the reason I'm more excited is because I have PLENTY of time to train for this race as opposed to the shorter timeframe I got before the June race.

This time around I'm trying a different kind of training schedule. In the past, I've used a schedule more or less derived from the Hal Higdon model. But this time I thought I'd try my hand (or feet?) at the Runner's World half marathon training schedule. I'm looking forward to it because it doesn't just give me a straight-up number of miles to run every day, but it incorporates interval running and different stamina exercises.

I've adjusted it slightly so that my longer days are on Saturdays, and I'm already looking ahead to the summer to make sure that I get my miles in despite some vacations and busy weekends. I'm 100% in on this program and I look forward to getting my miles logged, losing weight to get the pressure off of my worn out knees and PRing this race in September. Not to mention that it's been awhile since I've gotten to run a nice, long race in downtown Chicago!

What sort of half marathon training regimens have you used in the past, or are currently using? There are TONS of different things out there, and I'd love to hear about them!