How to Train for a 15K Race if you have no running motivation

I recently had the pleasure of learning about how to coach runners from Patti and Warren Finke from Team Oregon. They advocate a long-short schedule of running that enables runners to safely and comfortably build an adequate base for sucessfully running 15K, half marathon, marathon and ultramarathon distances.

My Biggest Running Issue - Injury


One of the most difficult parts of training for my first 15K and my first two half marathons was keeping my body uninjured while I increased my mileage. I was running without a coach monitoring my progress, relying only on things I remembered from my high school cross country days.

A Runner That Doesn't Want To Run - How to 'Cure' A Running Rut

This spring and summer, as I dealt with my father's death, I found myself in a running rut. I was running the same 3.5 mile loop on weekdays, uninspired to increase my mileage except for a longer Sunday run that I practically had to guilt myself into every week.


Where was the confident runner that blasted her Half Marathon PR apart last year?
Where was the excited runner that jumped out of bed to exercise before work?

My problem was that I was running every weekday run TOO FAST. I was not building up my aerobic endurance. Instead, I was just tiring myself out without improving my weekly distance or my time. I was not allowing myself aqeuqate time to recover from my runs. My body rebelled and found all too many excuses for me to skip my weekday runs.

Bottom Line: Running should make me feel happy-accomplished-tired, not uugh-gottasleepin-sore-tired.

Learning about the what I call the 'long-short' theory of running has been a godsend, enabling me to double my mileage and start once again proudly entering my runs on my running log.

Ryan Hall shares advice about how he paces his long runs in this Youtube video:
http://youtu.be/5np0CEMjFp8





The Nuts and Bolts

Here is more information on the 'long-short' method and training for a 15K from Team Oregon:
http://www.teamoregon.com/publication/online/race15k.html



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