Running my first half-marathon

I spent Jun-Dec 2010 in Dallas, Texas and for Thanksgiving I decided to enroll to the Turkey trot with my wife and my good buddy Jim.
It was a 5Km small race and it gave me the virus of running.
I completed it in 29min which is not too bad.

 

The atmospher was great, lot’s of people cheering, everyone happy, I loved it.
I thought I should get to a longer distance in order to enjoy the same feeling for a longer period. How about a 10K? Let’s make it 21K… Half Marathon.

I spent Jun-Dec 2010 in Dallas, Texas and for Thanksgiving I decided to enroll to the Turkey trot with my wife and my good buddy Jim.
It was a 5Km small race and it gave me the virus of running.
I completed it in 29min which is not too bad.

 

The atmospher was great, lot’s of people cheering, everyone happy, I loved it.
I thought I should get to a longer distance in order to enjoy the same feeling for a longer period. How about a 10K? Let’s make it 21K… Half Marathon.

Before the race I said to myself that I probably wouldn’t run a marathon ever… but I have to say I am seriously considering it.

So how did I prepare for that. From a non-believer to a pretty ok half-marathon runner.

The Genes

I must say that I probably have some kind of head start compared to most beginners because my dad has been running for his entire life and he took me with him when he was running. I was just following with my bike and playing around. So it’s in the family. But I always thought i would never run because I simply found it boring.
The Turkey trot proved my wrong. I like it.

The training calendar

About 12 weeks before the Helsinki City Run, the local half-marathon, I registered and started my training.
I found a template of training program online and I made some adjustments and started to follow it.
the thing is, I don’t only run, I also play rugby with my club and with the Finland National Team. So I needed to lose weight but I still had my fitness program to follow. And these are not exactly compatible.
Rugby requires strength and muscles and explositivity.
Running require to be light and lean muscles and stamina.
One helps the other of course, stamina is excellent for rugby, but running intervalls instead of long distance for example would be much more useful.

Anyway I made my choice:

Week 1
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Gym Gym 3K  3K Rest  Rest Ski day
Week 2
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 Gym Rest 7K Gym 4.5K Rest Rest
Week 3
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 Rest 3K + Gym + Rugby Rest 3K + Gym + Rugby  Rest 5K  Rest
Week 4
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 Rest  4K + Gym + Rugby  Rest   4K + Gym + Rugby  Rest 5K  Rest
Week 5
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 3K Gym + Rugby Rest Traveling to Cyprus 3K + Rugby  Rugby game Travel back
Week 6
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 2K Rest 2K Rest 4.5K Rest  Rest
Week 7
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 2K Rest 2K Rest 4.5K Rest  Rest
Week 8
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 Gym 7K + Rugby Gym Rugby 3K 10K Rest
Week 9
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 Gym + 20K biking 20K biking + Rugby 20K biking 20K biking + Rugby 20K biking  Rest Rest
Week 10
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 3K + Gym 2K + Gym Rest Rugby 10K Rest 12K
Week 11
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 Gym + 20K biking rugby 20K biking 20K biking + rugby 3K race  15K rest
Week 12
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
rest rugby rest rugby rest half marathon  rest

By Marc Olivier Meunier

Marc has spent the past few years putting oil on the fire of a hyper growth ad tech company. At Smartly.io he was in charge of scaling the support and its culture. At Eficode he is now leading an engineering team and running operations. He leads by example and puts a lot of emphasis on diversity and inclusion, constantly working to create a safe environment. A warm leader with a passion for memorable experiences and innovation.
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