A fun throwback of all of my long-distance races!
Rock n Roll 13.1 in DC | Rock n Roll 13.1 in DC
Mom cheered Lauren (my sister) and I on at the Mercedes 13.1 in Birmingham | Lauren & I ran a FULL 26.2 in Baton Rouge | Lauren & I’s first 13.1 with my best friend, Amanda and her now husband, Brennan

I’m officially in my 6th week of training for my 5th half-marathon! If you missed my post – 5 Half Marathon Training Tips – open it in another tab to read after you finish with today’s post!

I share my weekly runs on Instagram Stories and even created a highlight to save all of the weekly runs – if you’re interested in what those look like, check out the 13.1 highlight on my Instagram page! But I wanted to share a more long-form update on how training is going, one month in. So let’s jump in!

Half-Marathon Training Update

This is by-far the toughest training I’ve done (that I can remember). If you’ve seen any of my Instagram Stories, you know that I mention the heat and humidity a lot! Most all of the half-marathons I’ve run and even the full marathon I did a few years back were in the winter and spring. So the training was mostly during cooler months. And for the last two half-marathons, I trained in DC, where there’s no humidity during the winter/spring months.

It never cools off in Houston. I swear I’m not being dramatic. Michael and I went on a run at 5:30AM this week and the feels-like temp was around 90 degrees. And the humidity is relentless. It’s crazy how much of an affect the weather has on me physically being able to push myself to run at a faster pace. I’ve always been able to keep a 10-minute mile pace, at the slow end. Lately, that’s been a real challenge!

All that is not to say that training has been hard, just rather to say it’s been different than what I’ve been used in comparison to the last few long-distance races I’ve trained for. On the bright side, I sweat a lot more training here in Houston! 🙂

Weekday Runs

Michael and I try to get in two weekday runs each week. Tuesday and Thursday are our usual run days. Michael travels a lot for work, so some weeks we have to switch up the days or run solo. But for the most part, we’ve been pretty consistent with getting in two 3 to 4 mile runs in during the week.

Since the weekday runs are generally pretty short, distance wise, we try to pick up the pace a bit. I really have to push myself to keep up with Michael. But in a good way! I always feel really accomplished if I can hit more than one mile under a 10-minute pace.

For the weekday runs, we usually run in the mornings before work – around 7AM. It makes such a difference running before the sun gets too high. Running in the shade feels so much cooler (although not really cool at all) than running in the sun.

Long Weekend Runs

With the training schedule I follow, discussed in detail in this post, we have one long run each week. Michael and I prefer to do our long runs on Saturday morning, although the last two weeks that hasn’t panned out because of our travel schedule. I like getting in the long run on Saturday morning as opposed to Sunday because it frees up the rest of the weekend. We usually have a low-key night on Friday, which is a perfect way to wind down from the week, so that we can wake up early (6:30ish) to get our run in.

We’re up to 8 miles now for our long runs. I like the long runs. I always feel so incredibly accomplished after finishing. For me, it’s all about mindset going into a long-distance run. I know roughly how long it should take me. From the get go, I know I’ll usually be running for an hour+. With that in mind, I either line up a robust playlist on Spotify that will last the entire time or lately, I’ve been saving podcast episodes to listen to while running. In the iTunes podcast app, you can set a playlist of episodes. Listening to podcasts is a great distraction and great for passing time during the long runs!

My Favorite Gear

I shared a some of my favorite running gear in this post, but I’ve pretty much honed in on my go-to pieces at this point in the training.

I’m a HUGE fan of running in the lululemon Align biker shorts (6-inch). I like that they’re lightweight, high-waisted, and cover my inner thighs (no thigh chaffing). I wear my normal lululemon pant size – size 6 – in them.

For long runs, I prefer the Free to Be sports bra by lululemon. It’s soft and doesn’t have any bands or fabric that’s irritating or rubs. I always wear a longer sleeveless tank – the ones I usually wear are old, but similar to this one.

For shoes, I’ve been running in the Nike Odyssey React sneakers. My exact color is available on Amazon here.

Lastly, as for accessories, I always run with this armband for my iPhone (I have the 8+) and use my iPods. On long runs, I run with a Nike water bottle belt. Mine is really old, here’s a similar newer version.

Questions about training? Comment below or email me at [email protected]!