Running my first half-marathon

Reading Time: 2 minutes 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.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

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
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
GymGym3K 3KRest RestSki day
Week 2
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 GymRest7KGym4.5KRestRest
Week 3
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 Rest3K + Gym + RugbyRest3K + Gym + Rugby Rest5K Rest
Week 4
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 Rest 4K + Gym + Rugby Rest  4K + Gym + Rugby Rest5K Rest
Week 5
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 3KGym + RugbyRestTraveling to Cyprus3K + Rugby Rugby gameTravel back
Week 6
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 2KRest2KRest4.5KRest Rest
Week 7
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 2KRest2KRest4.5KRest Rest
Week 8
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 Gym7K + RugbyGymRugby3K10KRest
Week 9
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 Gym + 20K biking20K biking + Rugby20K biking20K biking + Rugby20K biking RestRest
Week 10
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 3K + Gym2K + GymRestRugby10KRest12K
Week 11
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
 Gym + 20K bikingrugby20K biking20K biking + rugby3K race 15Krest
Week 12
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
restrugbyrestrugbyresthalf 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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