Today officially marks the last day of summer. I am a summer girl through and through. I love everything about the long, sun-drenched days, outdoor dinners, beach trips, summer produce and 90 degree temperatures that mean I don’t have to wear a jacket, scarf or boots for months on end. It’s wonderful. My running joke is that my fallback plan is opening a yoga studio in the Caribbean.
I will regret saying this the first time that the temperature drops down into the 40s but this year I’m finding myself ready for the change of seasons. Something about the heat and humidity has felt suffocating these last few weeks and the cool mornings we’ve been experiencing lately have been a breath of fresh air.
So as summer comes to a close I wanted to share my fall race plans with you.
Last weekend this girl convinced me to run the Thunder Road Half Marathon with her in November. We trained together last year but she ended up having to drop out due to an injury. She ran the last three miles of the race with me and I fully credit her for my sub 1:45 finish.
My one caveat in agreeing was “I’m running for fun this year.” While I really thrived on the challenge of training for a PR in 2015, it’s not in the cards for me this year. I just want to run it to enjoy the experience with my friend.
And while we’re on the topic of the weather cooling off, let’s all say a prayer that it’s not as cold as it was last year. It was 25 at the start and 30 at the finish and I was cold for the entire 13.1 miles.
Here’s my game plan for training to “run for fun” this year.
3 days a week, relaxed training plan
Last year was all about paces, tempo and speed work with my training. While it worked, this year I’m just going to focus on running 3x per week (one easy/recovery, one tempo-ish medium distance, one long) at whatever pace feels right that day. I’ll probably start with a 7-8 mile long run this weekend and work up to 12ish.
Keep up the strength focus
Focusing on strength is feeling really good for my body right now so I’m going to continue trying for 3 strength sessions each week. I truly credit strength work as a huge part of my journey to becoming a faster and stronger runner.
Stretching it out
I’ll practice as much yoga as possible and be one with the foam roller and lacrosse ball. I can’t tell you how much rigorous commitment to mobility work helped me with recovering from workouts last year.
Bodywork
Massage and bodywork are invaluable when it comes to pushing your body. We have amazing massage therapists at Metro and I give Dr. Bradberry at Greenapple Sports & Wellness so much thanks for all his help in getting me to the finish last year. We did a lot of active release therapy, kinesio tape and lasers when I was having some foot pain in the late stages of training.
Supplements
I will continue to take my CVS Radiance Platinum Organic Iron, Radiance Platinum B-12 and Prenatal Multi-Vitamin. As I shared in my anemia update post, I continue to take these supplements to help me manage my iron-deficient anemia. When I am feeling anemic running feels so terrible so it’s super important to me to keep this in check.
I am looking forward to beautiful fall running to come and race day!
Giveaway! If you’d like to enter to win a prize pack from CVS with a selection of products and a $25 gift card, leave a comment telling what you’re looking forward to about fall or what your fall running plans are. U.S residents only. Giveaway ends Sunday at midnight EST.
This post is sponsored by #CVSHealthySolutions but the experience and opinions are all my own. Thank you so much for supporting my blog. It means so much to me to connect and share with you.
