IntroductionHey friends and fam, it’s J-Mart and this is State of Health. Today we're delving into the journey of my 2023 New Year's resolution to run a half marathon in 2 hours or less (meaning a pace of 5:42 min/km or faster) without incurring an injury. Why, you might ask? Well, besides the typical "new year, new me" vibe, I decided to take up running as a strategic move to improve my endurance for when I’m playing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I wanted to use cross-training to boost my performance on the mats, and what better way than getting outside and clocking in kilometers?Now, let's rewind a bit. About a decade ago, I took a swing at a full marathon, but due to lack of appropriate preparation I had to throw in the towel at the 30 km mark. Fast forward to today, and the half marathon became the first step of a multi-year plan to take another shot at that elusive full marathon. Join me as I share the details of my training process and the lessons I learned, the race day experience, the results and my insights.BackgroundBefore we dive into the specifics of my half marathon training, let’s quickly go over how I arrived at this particular goal. Quick shout-out if you’ve already listened to my State of Health #19 podcast with my personal trainer friend Daniel Yores where we talked about our fitness goals for 2023, why we wanted to go for those goals specifically and how we planned to accomplish them. Despite having different objectives, our approaches were surprisingly similar. You can catch the full podcast and glean some actionable fitness advice by clicking here. It's worth a listen for some fitness inspo!Specifically, my goal was to run the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon in 2 hours or less without hurting myself. Beyond the finish line, this goal was about enhancing my cardiovascular fitness to up my game in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Running was simply the method I used to boost my endurance, a key player for success on the Jiu-Jitsu mats. Running was also a good fit specifically for me because of my previous failed attempt at running a full marathon. My last attempt was a rushed endeavor, lacking the depth of knowledge on effective training strategies. The completion of a full marathon is an unfinished chapter of my life that I wish to close by applying my newly acquired knowledge to train effectively and efficiently and being wise enough to have a multi-year approach to ensure that I’m fully prepared. 2023 was the year of the half marathon and 2024 will be the year to complete a full.Now, let's talk about how I came up with this goal specifically. Well, I applied the SMART goal approach. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. It is used to guide goal setting to make sure goals are clear and reachable. Let’s go over it together.Specific: I defined who, what, when, where, and why. The goal had clear answers for all these questions.Measurable: I set clear metrics – 21.1 km, aiming for less than 2 hours, and steering clear of injuries.Achievable: Many others have accomplished a similar goal successfully. I've got resources such as trails nearby and home training equipment and the knowledge and plan to do the same.Realistic: With a generous 7-month timeline I felt confident I would be prepared even while training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu more frequently than running.Timely: The Toronto Waterfront race day was scheduled for October 15th. It lit a fire under me, keeping the goal time-bound.Besides my previous training experience, I had two new influential figures shaping my running training, David Weck and Dr. Matt Minard. David Weck, the man behind the BOSU ball, has been a digital mentor of mine for a few years as I’ve followed him on Instagram (@thedavidweck) and slowly absorbed the concept of the spinal engine for balanced locomotion. Dr. Matt Minard, on the other hand, a Physical Therapist who I came across on Instagram (@learn.2.run) at the beginning of this year, taught me to economize movement to maximize distance. I’ll get more specific about exactly what techniques I learned from each individual later on in the post/podcast.TrainingIn crafting a plan to run the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon in two hours, I divided my training into four phases spanning seven months. During the initial phase, lasting two months, my focus would be on building a robust foundation. The plan was to do weight training 2-3 times a week and start a consistent running routine, gradually increasing distance from 5 to 10 km. The plan for the subsequent phase was to discontinue weight training to focus on increasing the distance of runs to 15 km in one run and 21 km accumulated in one week. Next, I would transition to a six-week speedwork and peak training phase by adding hill sprints and completing at least one slow 21 km run outside of the 2 hour limit. Finally, the last phase of the plan was a 2 week tapering phase aimed to optimize readiness by reducing mileage. Half ...
