Drake Road Races Half Marathon: Training Starts Today!

After a few weeks off to recover from fall and winter races, I have been easing back into running a couple times per week. After pondering “what’s next,” I selected the Drake Half Marathon as my first race of 2018. I’ll actually be participating in the Bulldog Double by running the Blue Mile that same week.

So, yeah, I know that I rebranded this blog for my ultra adventures (more to come on those plans later… oh, and I guess that I should get around to actually reviewing my 50k in this lifetime), but I’m kind of obsessed with breaking my half marathon PR right now. This will be a good way to get back into the swing of race training while going to school full-time with the benefit of a shorter training period AND, well, a shorter race.

Hello, speed work!

Training starts today (with the usual Monday rest day)! My plan is 12 weeks and I’ll be incorporating a lot of what I learned while working with a running coach. Boxing has been an awesome workout and stress-release for me – and includes 10 minutes of core, which will benefit my running. I plan to keep up my 3x/week classes and doing yoga once per week. I think I found my sweet spot in my workout schedule, so looking forward to seeing how the regular cross-training will aid in my training.

Big goal: SUB TWO.

Drake won’t be a gimme – I’ll have hills to train for! But since our running club’s group runs will be mostly around Drake’s campus, I will have plenty of opportunity to practice. I was registered for Drake last year, and decided not to run it because of ugly weather. The date and course are both different this year, but Drake relays notoriously have awful weather luck. I will have that as a potential challenge to work through.

Bonus: I get to implement some of the mental training into my own program to practice that I’ve learned so far in my grad program.

My RACE day half marathon PR is a 2:12:16 (Des Moines Half Marathon 2016) – I have since had SEVERAL runs under that, with my fastest 13.1 miles at 2:07:57 (I did the front half of Route 66 Marathon in a 2:09:49 even with THOSE HILLS). Best of all, a friend of mine has offered to run with me and be my pacer to help meet my goal.

BRING IT, BULLDOG!
Drake Bulldog half marathon

One thought on “Drake Road Races Half Marathon: Training Starts Today!

  1. I am totally late to the party, but am just seeing this now (my bad). Anyhow…I’ll also be at BOTH Drake events, so maybe we can try to find each other in the mass of peeps. I did run the half last year, and the weather was YUCK…. cold, damp, windy. I’m anxious (in a good way) to see what the course looks (and feels) like this year. It’s also my first time ever doing the Grand Blue Mile…yikes. I am NOT a sprinter, but it’ll be fun to see just how fast I can run just one mile (after a good 1-2 mile warm-up LOL). Good luck with your training….my goal is also a sub-2 for Drake. I think I ran it last year just under 2:06.

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