Thank you for all of your congratulations on PR-ing in the Nike Women’s Half Marathon! I’ve gotten a few emails on how I was able to set my personal record (1:56:16) on such a hilly, difficult course. It has made me reflect on the past few weeks, what was different, and how I was able to accomplish such a feat.
This was my eighth half marathon I’ve run. My previous PR was 1:57:51 and was the fourth half marathon I ever ran. Sunday was the eighth. I hadn’t broken two hours since number four, and truthfully, while it was my goal to break two hours, I didn’t really think I would as this was an extremely tough course. The hills were LEGIT. Take a look at the course and the elevation chart in the picture below.
Do you see mile 6?! Straight incline UP! And mile 8 was basically ALL uphill; that was the toughest mile, for sure. But I made it through, and crossed under two. Woot woot!
In prior races, I religiously followed a 12-week training plan. This time, I didn’t find out I would be running the race until 6-weeks out, so I did not have as much time to train as usual. I didn’t even follow a plan; I did what I felt was right and what fit in my schedule. Overall, here are some key points that contributed to the PR:
Speed Workouts
I did speed workouts with my trainer on Saturdays which sometimes doubled as my long run. The longest run I’ve done this year is ten miles, and that was only once. Speed workouts are my number one recommendation for those of you trying to improve. When I first started incorporating speed workouts into my training routine, my speed increased dramatically. Plus, itz fun to mix up the usual routine of running with speedwork.
Chiropractor
For the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing a chiropractor. Despite the fact he told me I did not run like a gazelle, he has been helpful in figuring out what’s been going on with my knee/hip pain. Basically, my hamstrings are weaker than my quads and my hips are very tight. This causes my muscles to not function as smoothly as they should and put unnecessary strain on my knees. Three times a week, the doctor has been adjusting me by working out some of the adhesion that is going on in between my muscles.
He’s also given me two different exercises to do. One is to isolate and strengthen my hamstrings, and the other is to strengthen my hip flexors. The hamstring exercise is similar to a bridge, but I keep my hips low, so it works on my hamstrings, not my glutes. The hip flexor exercise is called the “clam.” I lay on my side, feed together, and open my knees just enough to where I’m not rotating my hips at all. Hence the name, my legs open and close much like a clam.
Foam Rolling / Stretching
Incorporating foam rolling and stretching into my daily routine has helped keep my tight muscles a bit looser. While I really had to make a conscious effort to fit in, I’m glad I did.
Run Streak
My running streak has been going strong since July 4th. The consistency of running, even just a mile a day sometimes, has trained my body for my regular runs.
REBOOTizer
As I previously announced, REBOOTizer was one of my sponsors. I drank a pouch on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Even though I landed pretty late on Friday night in San Francisco, I did not feel the usual lag of traveling the next day. Plus, Caitlin and I walked around all.day.long. on Saturday. Even still, yesterday I was not sore at all! Pretty amazing.
Atmosphere
Running with 25,000 other people was incredibly inspiring, even as we trudged up the massive hills together.
Photo from Nike’s Facebook page
YOU
When I got tired and my mind wanted to give up, I was thinking of the wonderful community I’m so lucky to be a part of. Not only my amazing family, husband, and friends who constantly support me, but also the FitFluential and healthy living community. I’ve gotten so many tweets, emails, messages, comments, etc. from all of you, that I am very touched and it definitely kept me chugging along as I thought about it. Thank you.
Competition
And now because you know how competitive I am and you know how much I love looking at stats, let me give you the rundown of how my PR turned out against the others.
Overall: 1,113 / 20,132
Age group: 227 / 3,862
I’ll take it!
What helps you achieve goals?
wow that picture of everyone going up the hill… is inspiring in itself! awesome recap girl! congrats again! (:
I have no idea if my last comment actually went through, so heres another one just incase haha.
I totally forgot what I just said, but I’m gonna keep it simple & say You PR’d because you ROCK!
Wow I didn’t realize how hilly that course was! Now I’m even more amazed by you!
For me I find that visualizing the outcome helps motivate me to achieve my goals. If I have a picture in my head of what I want to achieve it makes it seem a lot more doable!
Congratulations on your PR on such a tough course!!!! That’s sooo inspiring!!!
Congrats on a PR, especially on a tough course! Putting in the work makes all the difference!
Nice job!!! I loved that course. Def a must do race!
Congrats on the PR and your reasons are definitely good tips for when I start training again!
These are some really great tips! I love doing speed work and foam rolling definitely keeps me sane with all my CrossFit! Congrats again on the PR! That is so awesome!
Way to go girl!! You should be so proud! It sounds like you did everything right training wise to run the best possible race you could!
Wow!! Those are absolutely fantastic training tips. I really want to get faster and better at hills (Philadelphia’s not so good with hills), so I’ll have to keep going back to this post.
Congrats! I live in SF and YES those hill are totally intense and legit!
you are such a superstar! I am so impressed. I have to say my fastest half marathons were when I was strength training and also doing speed work. I agree with that statement. so I kept seeing you talk about rebootizer but I haven never heard of them. they sound good though! congrats yet again
YOU ROCK LINDZ!! I love doing speed work so i am sure this contributed greatly.. congrats congrats congrats!
Congrats on that PR! That pic is wild!
I need to get a foam roller.
LOVE how you break this down for other runners! I totally believe in foam rolling & being consistent to help people get PRs. For me, its usually a combo of more strength training, speed work, consistency, and lots of foam rolling!
Way to go Linz! Those hills were super tough, I couldn’t imagine PRing on this course! I agree that speedwork and foam rolling are big contributors to getting faster. Speed work makes you stronger and more confident, I need to be adding it into my schedule again! Congrats on the PR!!
Way to go girl! I know for the GO! STL half I need to do some speedwork. I’m looking into CrossFit Endurance, hoping that is the key to my PR!
Congrats on the PR!!!!
That’s awesome!! I think you have almost convinced me to try my first half now!
Wow- what a great run with all of those people! Looks inspiring (although I must admit I don’t run)
I do love going to a chiropractor though! Changed my life
x
Jocelyn
Awesome post! Speed work is so important, even for longer distances, so you hit the nail on the head!
For me, having a plan is typically what helps me improve – and following it obviously. 
Awesome job Lindsay! You should be so proud of yourself! So amazing for you!!
Whole lot of people trying to go uphill – great shot! Have a Great One:)
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Way to go lady! I just similarly PR’ed on a very hilly half course and I agree with everything you said. My chiro is a miracle worker as well, and those clams are weird looking – but they do the job. I also find doing one hilly run a week helps a ton. I live right on the Boston Marathon course, and “heartbreak hill” is only 2 miles from my house. So I would incorporate that monster into my run about once a week. The best way to get better at conquering hills is to run them more often. And totally agree with the speed work. It helps you become a faster, stronger, and more efficient runner.
Great job!!
Proud of you!!