The disease-sounding name in the title (H1N1 anyone?) stands for Hal Higdon Novice 1 and this is my recap of week one of the Novice 1 marathon training program. As I wrote about here, I’m not planning to run a marathon at the end of this training cycle, but I wanted some structure and this plan seemed to fit my goals.
The first week was really easy and probably exactly what I needed to recover from Bayshore the previous weekend. It called for rest Monday, 3-mile runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, rest Friday, a “long” run of 6 miles on Saturday, and cross training Sunday. Each week has the same rest, run, and cross-training days, so I’m sitting here on Monday of week two feeling ready to run, but reminding myself that I need to rest today. I’m definitely not used to taking two days off from running in a row unless I am feeling hurt.
On that note, my takeaway from week one is that I really like the amount of rest this plan prescribes. On Thursday, after having run three days in a row, I was feeling ready for rest and was happy that Friday was a rest day. In addition, resting Monday after not running on Sunday gives me lots of physical and mental energy to tackle and enjoy the next three days of running.
I was surprised this week by the long run. I thought 6 miles would be a piece of cake after running a half marathon the previous weekend, but the late-spring heat really got to me and I felt very bad for much of it. It was approaching 70ºF when I went out at 10am and was already 75 when I finished an hour later. I sweat easily and saltily, so even though I grabbed water at the halfway point, I was starting to feel nauseous by the end. That is something I need to figure out how to handle this summer. I’m hoping some of it will get easier as I get more acclimated to the heat, but I will also be heading out earlier in the day next time, when it hopefully will not be as hot.
I did not buy a spring/summer gym membership from the university gym this year (although I could still buy one if I wanted), so my cross-training this week was simply walking. I went downtown to cheer the finishers at the Dexter-Ann Arbor run and pretty much walked all around town going into different shops, as well. Once I get my road bike fixed, I might bike sometimes, but I really do like walking and honestly, my legs were tired by the end of the morning (I was on my feet for three hours), so I felt good about walking as cross training. 🙂
This is what my week looked like in far fewer words:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: run 3.03mi
Wednesday: run 3.48mi
Thursday: run 3.85mi (I underestimated the distance of the loop) + hip strengthening exercises after
Friday: rest
Saturday: run 6mi
Sunday: cross training – walked around downtown all morning
Total running for the week: 16.36mi 😀
How was your training last week? Do you like to follow a plan or do your own thing?
Rach Runs Her Mouth 
I’ve never had a time that I have regretted taking rest. I think that is a solid plan. I’ve always found cross training and extra rest have been so beneficial for me personally.
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I think I’m starting to see that I am the same way. A lot of my friends seem to get by with what seems like very little rest, but everyone is different! They are also much more experienced than me.
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I used this plan for my first marathon last year and have no complaints about it whatsoever. I think it’s neat that you’re using it to build mileage without a race too. Not something I would have thought of but definitely a great idea. I love having a plan because it tells me how much to run/what to do each day haha so no thought is required, but I typically have to tweak them since running regularly three days in a row is a no no for me
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Yeah, I’m not sure yet how running three days in a row is going to work for me. I haven’t done it much in the past, but last week seemed to be okay. I will just have to see how I feel I am holding up in subsequent weeks.
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Yes, Hal Higdon is great! I do like to follow his plans. I mix in more cross training though – I yoga and lift weights a few times a week. I know what you mean about a short run being hard and it messes with you cause you just ran further and faster. Just the way it goes somedays!
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I’m curious – what kind of lifting do you do? I’ve stopped doing it recently because I was having trouble recovering for running, but I know strength training is important and I’m not sure what other runners do.
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I used to go three times a week and also yoga one time per week. But in training for the Dopey I was too tired, so I scaled it back to two times per week and yoga ever other week when were were on our ‘easy weekend’.
Now I’m back to yoga every week, but only weights twice per week.
I generally do a full body workout, but mix up the exercises each time. I always do core work. Then some sort of squat/lunge/leg press, and also calves. Then I do a little chest, back, shoulders, bi’s and tris. And usually a second leg – like extensions/curls.
I know it takes from the running, but I’d rather be a little more tired than to not do the strengthening stuff so I can stay injury free.
On days that I’m tired, I usually stick to machines. On days with more energy, I do free weights. Or a mix.
An example of a workout:
10 mins on stationary bike warm up.
100 Crunches
50 Oblique crunches
40 Lower back extensions
40 Lower abs leg raises.
1 minute plank.
2 x 10 lunges
2 x 10 bench press
2 x 10 lat pull downs
2 x 25 calf raises
2 x 10 military press
2 x 10 one legged raised squats
2 x 10 bicep curls
2 x 10 tricep extensions
Stretch
Not too bad, not too intense.
Not sure if that helps.
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