{"content":[{"text":"are trying to improve on past race times. The Beginning Plan has no speed work involved with it. \n The goal of this is for you to finish the race, regardless of the time. Speedwork will be \n incorporated in the Intermediate/Advance Plan. I am a firm believer in incorporating other \n exercise modalities, and cross fit activities, to help strengthen other muscles that may help you \n with running, but may not necessarily be incorporated by running alone. These techniques help \n over the lengthy process of training for the Half Marathon by reducing the potential to get \n injured. There is nothing more frustrating then to do all of this training, only to get hurt a week \n or two prior to the event, and then not being able to participate. Above all else, listen to your \n body! It will tell you if it needs more recovery time or not. We are a highly complex system, and \n if we take care of it the right way, it will not fail us!","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.059849,"width":0.7648510000000001,"height":0.194722}},{"text":"Easy Runs: They are designed to be just that—relatively easy. You will find most of these being \n during the week, especially in the beginner plan. You should be able to cover that distance \n comfortably, and not feel exhausted when you are done. You should be able to hold a \n conversation with someone when you are running easy.","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.299571,"width":0.7648150000000001,"height":0.07503800000000005}},{"text":"Stretch and Strength: As runners, we tend to be very poor at stretching. “I don’t have time for \n that!”. You have to make time, or be forced to do it later when you are injured. Warming up is \n important, and then do some other light stretching as well, and even after your workout, \n spending another 5-10 minutes doing this I cannot emphasize the strength aspect enough, \n especially upper body. Our legs are getting a lot of training with the running, but if we are weak \n in the upper body, we cannot generate enough momentum to help maintain our stride, and our \n form, and we will quickly get tired. If your arms get tired holding them up running, everything \n goes from there! The goal is not to lift large amount of weights, but lighter weights with higher \n repetitions. This will also help with our endurance, and reduce our risk of injury.","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.419609,"width":0.7647330000000001,"height":0.17472200000000004}},{"text":"Distance: The plans are made utilizing mileage, not time. Our paces are all different, so for me I \n think it is more important focusing on the distance, and not necessarily the time it takes you to \n do it. Afterall, a Half Marathon is still 13.1 miles, and that distance has to be covered regardless.","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.609482,"width":0.7649050000000001,"height":0.05484900000000004}},{"text":"Rest: I have built in a rest day, and it is on Mondays following the long runs on Sunday. This is \n important to help recover. For those of you doing the intermediate/advance plans, this can also \n be active rest, meaning you are walking the distance, not running. It is still rest compared to your \n usual run days, but this can also help clear your muscles of the soreness following these longer \n runs.","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.679482,"width":0.764522,"height":0.09473600000000004}},{"text":"Hills: These are incorporated into the Intermediate/Advanced Plans. It amounts to one hill \n workout every 4 weeks. Start off with a mile warmup, and a mile warm down, and the rest of \n the mileage listed for that workout will be running up the hill, and then coming down. Pick a hill \n that is challenging, and anywhere from 200-400 meters in length. You want to pick up your speed \n on a flat portion first, then up the hill, and extend over the top of the hill, then jog back down,","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.789369,"width":0.7647560000000001,"height":0.09499500000000005}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}