Turning the Half into Thirds

by Mike Scopa

Regardless as to how long in your life you have been running, if you’ve basically gone no further than 10K (6.2 miles) or a mile or two further, then the thought of running 30,016 inches becomes rather intimidating. Oh sorry”¦I meant 69, 168 feet”¦.uhhh”¦.23,056 yards”¦I’m talking 13.1 miles which is the official the distance for a Half-Marathon.

It does seem rather overwhelming of course”¦even for me who some four years ago was training for my first half-marathon and wondering if I could cover that distance in the required time.

I had been running for almost 40 years so I had a good running base but I was used to six and seven mile distances and a rare occasional eight mile run. The thought of being out there running for 13.1 miles was a bit overwhelming to me at first and I wondered if preparing myself mentally for this race would be the bigger challenge than that of getting ready for it physically.

As I trained for this race I tried to figure out how I would approach the day of the race and for the most part my training took on a special focus.

Most of my training involved stamina. I figured I was 50% there because I knew I could run six or seven miles but now I had to figure out if I could cover double that distance.

So how did I figure out how to approach the race? It came down to basically the kind of approach that we all should probably use when we are faced with a large task ahead of us”¦I call it “chunking.”

I decided that I would chunk the WDW Half-Marathon into three even parts and approach the race as being three mini-races of 4.5 miles apiece Heck when you’re training for 13.1 miles 4.5 miles is a piece of cake”¦in fact I know for myself it takes me about 4 miles just to warm up.

So as I approached the eight and nine mile distances during my training I began to imagine that when I ran eight miles it was really two four miles runs and when I covered nine miles it was actually two 4.5 mile runs. By doing this not only was I able to approach the training this way but also begin to train my mind to how it would work on the day of the race.

So why am I telling you this?

Well I would imagine that some of you out there reading my words are looking at your first half-marathon and are saying to yourself, “How am I going to cover 13.1 miles?”

Try not to think of the total distance”¦chunk it up.

It certainly helped me get ready for my first half-marathon.

Now, four years later, I find myself using this same approach while training for yet another WDW Half-Marathon.

I know I don’t have to run 13 miles in any of my training runs”¦for those of you wondering if you should”¦I personally don’t think you have to.

I shoot for that 9-10 mile threshold. If I can cover that distance then I know I can cover 13.1 miles.

So for my training I “chunk” it up into three 3.0-3.5 mile distances.

As the weeks and months go by I build towards the first chunk and that tells me I’m one third of the way towards being ready for the race. As I hit the 6-7 mile mark I know I will be 2/3 of the way in my conditioning and once I hit the 9-10 mile mark I am ready for the race.

That works for me.

So if you find yourself a bit concerned about the distance then “chunk” it up and see what that does for you.

And for the record”¦I am 36% ready for the 2010 WDW Half-Marathon

* * * * * *

OH BY THE WAY”¦..

“¦.earlier this year we announced the formation of the ALL-Ears Running Team for the 2010 WDW Half-Marathon.

At the time of the announcement we had limited the participation to 50 members because of the logistics of communicating with everyone. Unfortunately early on because of our concerns we had to sadly inform some of you that we had reached our capacity.

Well”¦NO MORE.

We feel we can open up membership again so if you are still interested in becoming a member of the AllEars Running team then please send an email to either Michelle at [email protected] or me at [email protected] and we will get back to you with information on how you can become a member of the team and join us at the WDW Marathon Weekend.

Please keep in mind that in order to participate you must be registered for the 2010 Walt Disney World Half-Marathon, Full Marathon, or Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge.

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