So this is rather daunting for me: On September 14th, while on vacation in the Czech Republic, I’m going to run my first half marathon in Usti nad Labem (about an hour north of Prague). That’s almost exactly four weeks away.

Training, in all honesty, has not been that bad. I had expected it to be more strenuous and hard on the body since I’ve never consistently run so much for such a long period of time. But aside from being rather time consuming, I truly haven’t felt any ill effects on my body. I expected something really. A blown out knee, a rolled ankled,  SOMETHING.

But nope! Over the past month or two I’ve trundled along at a decent pace with my workout plan, very rarely missing runs altogether.

The last few weeks have pretty much looked like this:

• Week of July  3rd – 2 x 7.2k and an 11.5k
• Week of July 13th – 2 x 7.2k and an 11.5k
• Week of July 20th – 2 x 7.2k and a 13k
• Week of July 27th – 2 x 7.2k and a 13k
• Week of August 3rd – 2 x 8k and a 14.5k
• Week of August 10th – 2 x 8k and a 15k

Each week has consisted of two support runs alongside my longer run of the week (which will cap at 17k in three short weeks). I’ve started to turn the 8k support runs into interval training in an effort to break up the monotony and hopefully increase my shorter race pace. It’s nice to actually be able to say that – a few months ago I could barely do interval training for 4k, never mind double that! Mixed amongst my runs were my regular sporting activities (soccer and, more recently, ultimate frisbee), as well as strength training.

There’s one month left of training to do! Then I start what runners call their “taper”, which basically means reduced distance running in the week leading up to the actual half marathon to ensure that my muscles are as strong as they can be.

It’s funny because I expected training for a half marathon to feel more monumental. More like an 80s workout montage a la Rocky movies. But it’s been smooth and easy to do. Time consuming, for sure, but painless and very easy to progress through the increased distances week after week. (And for that reason, I cannot recommend the Hal Higdon programs enough!) I even started taking energy gels throughout my long runs a few weeks ago to keep my energy up and I didn’t experience any awkward stomach cramps which was a blessing as I’ve heard some pretty uncomfortable stories from other people.

My biggest recommendations for distance running? Aside from the obvious, which is sticking to your plan, I can’t recommend changing your music enough. Change it frequently, maybe even as often as before every long run because the monotony of kilometer after kilometer can become incredibly boring. At this point I am sooooo damn tired of Ke$ha’s Timber! (And yet, it’s still on my playlist, so I just keep listening to it every. single. time. I. run.)

I’m really looking forward to this half marathon. It’s a new challenge for me because it’ll be a distance I’ve never fully completed to date. I’m especially eager to do it in a country I’ve never been to, which means it’ll be a completely new and exciting experience.

© photos taken by Shawn Mitchell