This is a guest post by Jason Fitzgerald.

Jason Fitzgerald (or Fitz) is the founder of Strength Running, a 2:44 marathoner, and online running coach. He loves spending time on the trails, plotting his next training cycle, strong coffee, and cycling. Strength Running unleashes Fitz’s passion for helping runners achieve their best and prevent running injuries. You can follow Fitz on Twitter at @JasonFitz1.

Each new year is a new opportunity to evaluate what worked last year and what you can improve. This is true for everything: your family life, job, and of course, your running.

Runners often go through the motions day after day, month after month, without taking a step back and looking at their training and planning for the future. Doing so is surprisingly simple and can profoundly improve your running.

This exercise should take you about a half hour and leave you feeling inspired and ready to take over the world. Are you ready?

First, get your training log or open up your online journal. If you don’t have one (shame on you!), this will be trickier, but it can still be done. Use an estimate or guess based on the races you did last year.

We’re going to look at three important variables to improve this year.

1. Volume: How much you run impacts your fitness level and how fast you can race. Add up how much you ran in each month last year. Your goal is to increase each month by about 10–15% on average. You should almost always be striving to run a little bit more than you have in the past. It’s the most sure-fire way of getting faster for new and intermediate runners.

   You can focus on running a more consistent long run, adding a day of running to your weekly plan, or adding an extra mile or two to a few runs every week. Whatever option you choose, make sure you increase mileage gradually and include a day of complete rest or a short, easy run every week.

2. Workouts: How many workouts do you run per week? Workouts are more structured training sessions that include faster running in addition to standard runs. You should aim for 1–2 per week — few runners need more. Focus on long-term aerobic development with long runs, tempo workouts, and fartleks. You’ll get the most reward for your hard effort with these types of workouts.

   Tough interval workouts on the track should be infrequent and saved for pre-race sharpening periods. They can get you in top shape quickly, but are just icing on the cake. They also increase your risk of injury because of their intensity.

3. Races: It’s a new year — now is the time to train for a new race! Make your marathon debut, try an offbeat distance like 8k or 10 miles, or get crazy and do a Muddy Buddy or other adventure race. If you don’t race that often, it’s time to get out there and test your fitness. Running for fun and health is fun, but racing is incredibly exciting.

   A lot of runners actually race too frequently. If the distance is 10k or less, you can do 1–2 races every month. Otherwise, focus on high-quality training and getting in the best shape possible before your goal race. Your results and new personal bests will thank you!

   If you’re attempting a new race you should look for a training plan that will help you reach your goals. It’s easy to have a goal — the tough part is putting a good plan into action that will help you succeed.

Let’s make 2011 the year of milestones — more running, better running, new races, and faster personal bests! Take some time from your day and reflect and what you did last year. How can you improve your training? What worked for you?

Even thirty minutes of planning time can change your entire year — making you faster, more productive with your training time, and happier with your running. Ready to get started?

photo by mikehamm

Hi.

It’s us, your running shoes.

We’ve got a few things to tell you.

We’re tired of being blamed for all your running problems.

Shin splints? “Shoes must be getting old.” Knee problems? “I must have the wrong type of shoes.” Slow race time? “My shoes felt too heavy.”

Don’t get us wrong. We love running with you. We would never quit on you. We want you and your feet to be happy. But before you give up on us and go barefoot (who will you blame for your aches and pains then?), just hear us out.

Consider breaking up with your work shoes

No, we’re not jealous. We understand that there are other shoes in your life. We have no desire to go to boring meetings or sit under a desk all day. But come on, do you think you’re really doing your feet a favor with these?

If we’re lucky you might spend two or three hours with us, but you cram your feet into your work shoes for up to 12 hours per day, five days a week! And if you really are wearing high heels for that long, you could be doing some serious damage. In fact, recent studies have shown that high heels can shorten calf length by up to 13 percent!

And men, you’re not doing yourselves any favors either. When you jam your feet into your expensive stylish narrow dress shoes with pointy toes, you will over time deform your foot by cramming your toes together. And when your toes are all crammed together, they don’t contribute so well to your running stride.

Take your shoes off when you’re at home

Photo credit: cohdra from morguefile.com

We spend a lot of time with your feet. We listen to them much more than you do. You know what their biggest complaint is? You keep them in shoes too much.

You should take your shoes off every chance you get. It’s good for your shoes, and it’s even better for your feet. Walking around the house without shoes develops your foot and calf muscles while helping your feet breathe.

Here’s something you should try. When you walk around the house, can you hear the china rattle? Do the people on the floor below you hear THUD THUD THUD with every step you take? You probably don’t even notice it. Pay attention to how hard your feet hit the floor when you walk without shoes — and then try to walk silently. You don’t need to walk on tiptoes to walk silently. Just put your feet down more gently and make sure your heel doesn’t strike first. In fact, this is the way humans were meant to walk. Landing on the ball of your foot instead of your heel improves your balance and your form. You can do this at home every time you take a step, and your feet, shins, and knees will thank you.

Running shoes can’t save you from bad form

You’ve heard the conventional wisdom. Do you overpronate? Get a motion control shoe. Do you underpronate? Get a cushioned shoe. Do you have knee problems? Get fitted for orthotics. In fact, it seems there’s a shoe or an insert for every possible gait problem.

But is it really the shoes? Recent studies using control groups have actually “…found almost no correlation at all between wearing the proper running shoes and avoiding injury.” In fact, runners who used the “correct” type of shoe in the studies actually had a higher incidence of injuries than runner who didn’t.

So how do you make sense of this data? Here’s our take on it. When you use your running shoes to compensate for bad form, you actually train your feet and legs to run worse. If you buy cushioned shoes because you’re a heel striker, the shoes make it OK to heel strike and over time your heel strikes harder and harder. If you buy motion control shoes because you pronate, the shoes do all the work for you so the muscles that would normally keep your feet from pronating get even weaker and your over pronation gets even worse.

So what can you do?

Don’t fix your shoes, fix your form

Yes, you can probably fix your form by running barefoot — but we don’t think you need to. We think you can improve your form and reduce injuries and problems by simply following these two pieces of advice:

• Go natural — By this we mean get off the pavement. Run on grass. Run up hills. Run on trails. Run anywhere that the surface isn’t flat. Uneven terrain will force you to run with a more responsive gait. In time, this will develop all those muscles that have atrophied from years and years of motion control and flat pavement. It will be hard at first, and you should start slow. But in time you’ll notice the difference. Besides, isn’t pavement getting boring for you? We would sure like a change of scenery!

• Shorten your stride — We think that you are heel striking, and suffering from shin splints, knee problems, and other maladies because your stride is too long. When your feet land in front of you, you are overextending your joints and muscles. Also, when your feet land in front of you, the only way they can land is on the heel. The heel is not made for gently absorbing shock — it transfers the shock right up your legs and through your body.If you shorten your stride so that your feet land underneath you, you’ll find that you will dramatically reduce the impact on your heels. You’ll move more quickly onto the balls of your feet, and you’ll have a better push off to start the next stride. To help yourself achieve this form, lean forward slightly as you run. Of course, shorter strides mean less distance covered, so you’ll need to increase your turnover. Over time it will start to feel more natural, and the reduced impact will translate into less training time lost to injury.

So can we be friends again? Take care of your feet when you’re not running, and they’ll take care you when you are. Pay attention to improving your form by shortening your stride, and you’ll reduce the impact of each step on your body. And finally, take it slow. Add distance gradually when you train and listen to your body.

Let’s go for a run!

Marathon training for busy families

Finding time to train for a full marathon when you have a family is hard.

Finding time to train for a marathon even when you don’t have a family is hard, but with a family it’s significantly harder. When can you fit in those critical long runs? How many miles a week do you really need? What if you end up missing a workout? What if you end up missing a long run?

Don’t worry. You can do it!

I developed this marathon training plan especially for busy families. In fact, I use this plan myself. To keep it manageable, I built the plan around only three runs a week — two regular runs, and one long run each week. It has plenty of room for flexibility, and it will get you ready for a marathon in 16 weeks.

Run a marathon in 16 weeks

This plan is not for beginners! It’s OK if you are a first-time marathoner, but you should not use this plan if you are a beginning runner. You need to establish a solid base before trying to run a marathon.

To use this plan, you should be able to run a 10K and your regular runs should be around 4 to 5 miles each. You should be healthy and injury free. If this is your first marathon, or if you have had training injuries in the past, you should consult your physician before starting. If you are not yet up to 10K and regular 4–5 mile runs, then check out my Half Marathon Training Plan

Build stamina through distance runs

The plan starts out with 5 mile runs, and gradually adds distance to get you ready for the full 26.2 miles for your marathon.

To help fit training into busy family life, the weekday runs are kept relatively short. There are two runs per week on weekdays, at distances of either 5 or 6 miles. The plan shows the weekday runs on Tuesday and Thursday, but you can run them whenever they fit in. Make sure you get two of these runs in each week! Cumulative distance is really important for marathon training — more on that in a bit.

Long runs are reserved for weekends (but again, you can run them during the week if that fits better with your family schedule). The plan lists long runs on Sundays because most marathons fall on a Sunday, but other days are fine too. You should run your long run whenever it fits best into your family schedule — but make sure you run one long run each week! The long runs start at 8 miles and gradually work up to 21 miles. Distance is added on alternating weeks — if you bump up your distance one week, then you cut back a little the next week to allow your body to recover. Sort of like an inchworm — it stretches out to gain ground, then lets the rest of its body catch up. This concept is very important in helping to avoid training injuries. The amount of distance run each week is also carefully calculated to help avoid training injuries. The plan doesn’t increase weekly mileage by more than 10% over the previous stretch week, with just one minor exception.

Fueling and tapering

photo by nkzs

Marathon training puts a toll on your body. Be good to yourself and make sure you stay well nourished. I’ve found a 40–30-30 diet to work best. That means that you consume 40% of your calories in the form of complex carbohydrates (e.g. whole grain bread and pasta, fruit), 30% of your carbs in the form of proteins (e.g. meats, cheeses, and beans), and 30% of your carbs from fat. The high carb content is important to give you the energy you need. The protein is important to help your body strengthen and rebuild after each workout. The fat gives you vital energy, but should be consumed in the form of healthy fats (not saturated fat).

You also need to find a way to fuel your body during your long runs. The most readily accessible source of energy for your muscles is found in the form of glycogen — which is actually stored in your muscles. Most people run out of glycogen at around 50 minutes of sustained activity. At this point, your body will start burning fat for energy. But this process is much less efficient and will cause your performance to suffer. This is why marathoners use performance gels and/or sports drinks. If you take in easily converted carbs (like those found in gels and sports drinks), those carbs will start to be available to your body roughly 45 to 50 minutes later — right when you start running out of glycogen. I prefer sports gels, so I consume one pack before starting on my long run. I then carry enough packs with me to consume another every 45 minutes. In this way, I provide my body with a constant stream of easily converted carbs throughout my long run.

Of course, you also need water. Some people carry water with them. There are a wide variety of hydration packs available. Pick one that you are most comfortable with and use it. Rather than carrying a pack with shoulder straps, I personally prefer a waist pack. My favorite (tried and tested over many years) is the CamelBak FlashFlo waist pack. I find it to be more comfortable and less bouncy than shoulder packs. If, however, you prefer to not carry any extra weight at all, then you should probably plan your route to run past drinking fountains, or cache some water along the route beforehand. Disclosure: The links above are affiliate links.

The last three weeks of the plan are designed to help you taper so that your body is in prime condition for your marathon. During your taper, you should resist the urge to run extra miles. After all the distance you’ve been putting on, you will feel like you should be doing more. Don’t! Just take it easy. Let your body repair and rebuild itself so that you’re ready to go when the big day comes.

A critical part of your taper is carb-loading. The purpose of carb-loading is to temporarily increase the amount of glycogen stored in your muscles. There are many techniques for doing this, some more extreme than others. I tend to use a moderate technique which has you switch your diet to 70–15-15 (70% carbs, 15% protien, 15% fat) for four full days prior to your event. This increase in carbs, coupled with a decrease in your mileage, will cause your available glycogen to increase significantly for your race.

Tracking your progress

Because this plan is scaled back to only three runs per week, it is important that you stick with it! Make sure you don’t skip any runs, especially the long runs. The plan includes several charts to help you track your progress.

The first chart plots your actual daily mileage run against the planned mileage. As you can see in the sample chart above, your actual distance run (shown by the solid light blue line) will probably vary from the plan. Each run is represented by a dot on the line. If you miss a run or need to reschedule a run, try to stay as close as you can to the scheduled line.

The next chart helps you track your pace throughout your training. You’ll find that your pace will be slower on your long runs (indicated by higher points on the chart) and faster on your shorter runs (indicated by lower points). It’s OK for your long runs to be slow. In fact, you want your long runs to be slow. If you push it too hard, you may end up cutting back on mileage, which would be counterproductive. Better to take it slow and easy so that you can make sure you complete the distance. Once you’ve covered a certain distance, when you go back to it during your easier weeks you can try to push a little harder if you feel like it — but don’t overdo it.

The pace chart is a good indicator of possible overtraining. While your long run pace will be slow and will vary greatly, your short run pace should stay relatively consistent as you progress through your training. If you find your short run pace improving over time (i.e. the points are lower on the chart), great! If, however, you find your short run pace getting slower (points moving higher), then you may be at risk of over-training. Make sure you get some rest, make sure you are eating well, and try running your long runs slower. If this doesn’t help, then you should consider taking a break to let your body recover.

The final chart shows your cumulative distance run plotted against the scheduled cumulative distance. As you track your progress, the cumulative distance chart will “fill up” to show your progress. If you find your actual cumulative distance to exceed the schedule, then pull back. You don’t want to risk injury from overtraining. If, on the other hand, you find a gap growing between your actual cumulative distance and the scheduled distance, then try to make up some miles so you don’t fall behind.

Because this plan is scaled back to allow you to spend time with your family, it’s important that you keep your cumulative distance on track. Make sure you keep “filling the tank” on this chart. Cutting yourself short on total miles over the duration of your training may lead to injury. Don’t cheat yourself.

If you do fall back and the gap on this chart becomes significant, don’t overextend yourself trying to catch up. A little catching up is OK. A lot of catching up is not. Trying too hard to catch up on distance is a great way to get yourself injured. It’s better to repeat a week, extend your plan, and pick another race, than to sideline yourself through injury and not be able to run at all.

If you do happen to have time to squeeze in some extra workouts, try cross-training! Swim some laps, use an ellipse or other cardio machine, do an upper body workout, or go for a bike ride. If you choose to run any extra days, keep those runs as easy as possible — nice easy pace and no longer than 5 miles.

The Plan

The plan is available as an Excel file. The cells in the file are protected so you don’t accidentally delete or edit something you shouldn’t. In the top right corner of the spreadsheet you’ll see a spot for the Race Date. The first thing you should do is enter the date of your race here. This will automatically adjust the dates throughout the plan based on your race date.

As you progress with your training, enter the actual distance and pace of your training runs in the appropriate cells. Distance should be measured in miles. Pace should be measured as minutes per mile, with seconds expressed as a decimal rather than actual seconds. For example, a 9 minute 30 second pace would be entered as 9.5. An easy way to convert seconds to decimals is to just divide by 6. The charts (scroll down below the plan to see the charts) will automatically update as you enter your actuals so that you can easily track your progress.

Good luck with your marathon training!

Download the Plan » Download the 16 Week Marathon Training Plan in XLSX format.

The 16 Week Marathon Training Plan by Running in the Family is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Half marathon training for busy families

Finding time to work out and run consistently when you have a family is challenging. Finding time to train for a distance event like a half marathon is even harder!

But you can do it! This half marathon training plan only requires three runs a week — two regular runs, and one long run each week — and will get you ready for a half marathon in 16 weeks.

5K to Half Marathon in 16 Weeks

To use this plan, you should be able to run a 5K and should be healthy and injury free. The plan starts out with 3 mile runs, and gradually adds distance to get you up to 13.1 miles for your half marathon.

To keep this workable for working families, the weekday runs are kept relatively short. There are two runs per week on weekdays, starting at 3 miles and working up to a 4 mile and a 5 mile run during the weekdays during peak training time. The plan shows the weekday runs on Tuesday and Thursday, but you can run them whenever they fit in during the week.

Long runs are reserved for weekends. The plan lists long runs on Sunday because most half marathons fall on a Sunday, but Saturdays are fine too. You should run your long run whenever it fits best into your family schedule — but make sure you run one long run each week! The long runs start at 3 miles and gradually work up to 12 miles. Distance is carefully added throughout the plan so that you don’t increase weekly mileage by more than 10% each week, with just a couple of minor exceptions.

Because this plan is scaled back to only three runs per week, it is important that you stick with it! Make sure you don’t skip any runs, especially the long runs. Trying to catch up on distance is a great way to get yourself injured. It’s better to repeat a week, extend your plan, and pick another race, than to sideline yourself through injury and not be able to run at all.

If you do happen to have time to squeeze in some extra workouts, try cross-training! Swim some laps, use an ellipse or other cardio machine, do an upper body workout, or go for a bike ride.

The Plan

Download PDF » Download the 16 Week Half Marathon Training Plan in PDF format.

Download XLSX » Download the Interactive 16 Week Half Marathon Training Plan in Excel format. Enter your race date and the plan will automatically update.

The 16 Week Half Marathon Training Plan by Running in the Family is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

After we finished a wonderful shrimp and risotto dinner this evening, my wife said, “You should go to the gym tonight.” I was feeling rather full, but it was my turn to work out — and I was excited to add some mileage to my Run 48 States endeavor. So I changed into my running clothes, and off to the gym I went.

My plan was to run an easy 10K. I didn’t want to push it after dinner, but I really did want to start racking up some miles.

The reality

But once I started, my “easy” pace didn’t feel so easy. I told myself that after a mile the dinner would settle and I’d feel better. A mile passed and then I told myself that after two miles I’d feel better.

The second mile was harder than the first. By 2 1/2 I was just hoping to be able to make a 5K. I finally did make 5K (barely), and then I had to stop.

At first I was really disappointed.

Disappointed that I didn’t run the whole distance. Disappointed that I ran 5K at such a slow pace. Disappointed that I felt so tired and spent.

But what was my alternative? To not have run at all?

The realization

Sometimes any run is better than no run. A slow 3.1 miles is better than 0 miles. 300 calories burned is better than 0 calories burned. And trying and making an effort is better than not trying at all.

So what if I didn’t run 10K? I ran. And it wore me out. And then I listened to my body and stopped.

There’s nothing wrong with that — and I got home in time to help put the kids to bed.

That’s good enough. In fact, that’s great!

Is it just me, or was running really a lot easier BC (Before Children)? Back in the BC era, there seemed to be so much more flexibility and time for running. But now that I’m in the AD era (American Dad), things are different. With dropping off and picking up kids from school, taking them to soccer practice and other activities, parent-teacher conferences, school volunteer activities, and everything else that goes on in American family life, I’m usually logging miles in the minivan instead of in my running shoes. So how does one find time to run without compromising family commitments? Here are a few tips.

Make running a team effort

If you and your spouse both run, then it’s not just you. Your spouse is feeling the same pressures to balance family, work, and working out that you are. Have you talked about it together? That’s the first place to start. In order to successfully fit running into your family life, you can’t make all the decisions on your own. Make some time – maybe even get a babysitter go out for a nice dinner together – and talk to each other about your individual and your family fitness goals.

You should both agree on what priority running and fitness takes in your individual lives, and on how much time to devote to it. You should also agree on what priority running and fitness takes in your family’s life, and how you want to promote it. If you want your children to grow up with a love for fitness, then they need to see it in practice as a cooperative team effort – not just something that either Dad or Mom does. If your children can see you make trade-offs to make sure your partner has time to work out too, then they will learn by example to respect the needs of others.

Take turns running

Unless you’re an elite runner, you probably don’t need to run every day. Three or four days a week is plenty. You may not hit a PR each time you race, but in the grand scheme of things how important is that really? I trained for my last marathon running only three or four days each week and completed the marathon in 3:45. It wasn’t a PR for me, but it was good enough. And if you only run three or four days each week, you can then take turns with your spouse so that both of you have time to work out.

One good approach is to swap mornings. One of you runs or works out first thing in the morning while the other gets the kids ready for school. Running first thing in the morning is great because it means all of those surprises that come up during the day and steal your time won’t have a chance to pop up before you get your run in. And by taking turns, you each get to spend time in the morning with the kids so that no one parent has to bear the brunt of getting the family going in the morning.

You can also take turns with challenging races. You don’t have to both train for a big race at the same time. You can sacrifice a few days here and there so that your spouse can focus on her race. Then after you’ve supported her and cheered her to the finish, she can recover and skip a few days while you train for your race. Choosing a race and taking turns makes it easier to figure out who has to give a little when other commitments compete for your training time.

Run at lunch

If your employer supports physical fitness (something which more and more employers are supporting nowadays), then make full use of their policy and do your running at lunchtime! It’s a fabulous way to de-stress and refocus in the middle of your hectic workday. After your run you’ll return to work refreshed and energized, and you may even find that some great ideas came your way during your run.

One problem that lunchtime runners encounter frequently is lunchtime meetings. The first thing you need to do is block out your running time on your work calendar so that people know you are busy. The second thing you need to do is tell the people you work with that running is very important to you, that your employer supports physical fitness, and that you like to run at lunch. The third thing you need to do is be a little flexible. If you have an important client meeting, or if lunch is the only time you can get a group of key people together, then it won’t hurt you to skip a day here and there. But if you find yourself skipping your lunchtime runs regularly, then ask yourself if lunch is really the best time for you.

What if your employer doesn’t support physical fitness? Well, the last thing you want to do is sneak out to go running. That’s a good way to get fired (which would then give you plenty of time to run…). If your employer doesn’t support physical fitness, your choices are to find another time of the day to do your running, or get with your co-workers and find out how many other people there are who value fitness as much as you do. If you can band together and present your case professionally (fit employees are happy employees, fit employees take less sick days, fit employees have lower medical bills…), then maybe you can persuade your employer to change their policy. A good place to start is usually HR.

Keep running in perspective

Regardless of which approach you choose to take, remember what role you decided running should play in the life of your family and children, and keep it in perspective. By agreeing on your approach in advance, you’ll find that you really will be running with your family commitments, and not running from your family commitments.