Endurance Training Doesn't Have to Be an Uphill Battle

Sad to say, but my fling with swimsuit model Jody Olson appears to be over.

For several months she has been a soft voice in my ear.

"Come on, you're a rock star . . . You can DO this . . . "

It was fun while it lasted.

I used Jody's running interval workouts, downloaded through the Podfitness.com Web site, to help prepare for the Marine Corps Half Marathon, held in Fredericksburg on May 18. For the record, I finished in 2:05:48, which beat the 10-minute-per-mile pace I had initially set for myself but was shy of the two-hour finish I had come to hope for.

Looking back on the nearly five months invested in the process, I thought a review of what worked and what didn't might help those of you interested in training for a distance event.

The chief lesson to take away is this: Participating in these events is doable. If 26.2 miles makes you gag (to me, it still seems insanely long), consider halving that. If 13.1 miles seems like a lot, then try a 5K (roughly three miles) or some other distance for starters. The process will work, and establishing something like this as a goal is great motivation.

Beyond that, here are some details:

Endurance: My greatest concern initially, and that of virtually all first-timers, was whether I'd be able to finish. Building the aerobic capacity to keep moving for two hours or more takes time.

This is an area where I stuck pretty closely to the training plan and even pushed beyond it a bit. I was working with a local group from Team in Training, or TNT, the charity that coaches people in endurance events to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The heart of endurance training is a weekly long run, done at a comfortable pace but with progressively longer distances. The schedule established back in February called for long runs totaling 100 miles over about 14 weeks leading up to the Fredericksburg event. I put in around 118 and by the end was pretty comfortable with 10- and 12-mile runs.

My advice: Allow plenty of time to build distance patiently, and don't skimp on those weekly long sessions. Psychologically, it helps to know you'll be able to hold out for the duration.