Run, Karla, Run!

You’ve got questions. I’ll find the answers. “Ask the Running Nerd” is back.

Question:

My husband and I are scheduled to run our first half-marathon in July.  I have been running on my own without any training plan for a few months now and today I went for a 10-mile run.  We’re 10 weeks away from the race and I’m not sure what my training should look like for the next several weeks.  I don’t want to lose the endurance I’ve worked for thus far, but I also don’t want to injure myself before the race. Any ideas?

—Kerry Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Michal Zacharzewski

Bad runs, like bad things, happen to good people. More specifically, they happen to good runners; and, they happen to all of us. Bad runs can be insidious; they can infect your mind and your training, especially if you’re unable to shake them off.

After a particularly bad run, I learned that you must—to borrow a lyric from Dorothy Fields—pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again.

Last Saturday, I had an especially bad run. It was the first 85-degree day, with clear skies and about 50 percent humidity. When I set out for a 10K, I knew it would be tough. The hotter it is, the slower we’re able to run—as much as 5 percent slower for every 10 degrees above 55, according to coach extraordinaire Jeff Galloway. Experts like the folks over at Endurance Science even have empirical data to prove it.

So I expected to take it easy and run a bit slower. But I didn’t expect it to be demoralizing. Read the rest of this entry →