Broke Busy Girl's 8 Week Half Marathon Training Schedule

Picture from Women'sHealthMag.com

Look, I have approximately 40 minutes of free time on weeknights which is usually my excuse for not doing things, but when I found out that a woman I know just ran a full marathon and works full time and has five kids AND a dog, I decided it was time to stop embarrassing myself with excuses and sign up for the next half marathon in the area. I also went ahead and indulged my Type A Side by making a ridiculously anal training schedule of the 8 weeks leading up to the race. Since we're all busy, every workout takes 40 minutes or less, except for the long runs.

A few things to note about the 8 week schedule: 

1. Shoes: Good running shoes are key, if you have shitty shoes you might as well go ahead and twist your own ankle before you even start- worn out shoes are a set-up for injury. I initially went to Pacer's  because they watch you run and tell you what shoe to get, (plus they always have running gear on clearance for $10), and once I trust my shoes I order them on Amazon.. I am a huge fanatic of Asics Running Shoes and Brooks Running Shoes. 
2. Eating:My appetite during this training increased x 1000. Thankfully I have a lot more energy with my clean eating, but I need to pack more snacks during the day so I won't cheat and buy food somewhere. All my clean recipes and 4 weeks of meal plans are here . Before every workout I eat a banana, and before especially hard workouts and long runs, I eat natural peanut butter with my banana. 
3. Habits: Look I live and die by coffee. I feel bad for people who don't drink coffee because when they wake up is that the best they feel all day? Anyway, I do my long runs on weekend mornings. I eat my regular breakfast with coffee plus lots of water, give it 45-60 mins to digest, then eat my peanut butter banana with a glass of water.
4.  Water: During this time you should be drinking at least half your body weight in ounces (i.e. if one weighs 200 lbs, they drink 100 ozz water during the day). It seems like a lot, but it is completely necessary.
5. STRETCH STRETCH STRETCH: Same as shoes, if you're not going to stretch you can pretty much count on not making it to the race. Stretching is so important, plus it feels good, plus it prevents you from looking like a fool limping around because of sore calves. Most of my Wednesday Workout posts include stretches, and Blogilates has great stretch routine videos.
6. Training for the Training: For the month leading up to the 8 week training I worked out at least 4 days/week. Click here for free workouts.
7. Equipment: Look we're all broke here, and paying for shoes AND race registration is where I max out. The only equipment needed for this is 8 pound dumbells and 5 pound dumbells .
8. Disclaimer: I am NOT a certified trainer or anything like that (if I was I'd obviously have some kind of free gym membership). I've been an athlete my whole life, this is just how I stay in shape. Do this at your own risk.

Here it is, the Broke Busy Girl's 8 Week Half Marathon Training Schedule

Week 1	Fitness Blender: HIIT Like a Girl	3.5 mile jog (70%)	Mr. Shut Up&Train: Fuel Fit Blazer­­­­	Rest Recover stretch	Blogilates: PopHIIT 1	Rest recover stretch	5 mile run
Week 2	Fitness Bledner: 30 min HIIT	3.5 mile run (70-80%)	Mr. Shut Up&Train: Dumbell Demo	Rest Recover Stretch	Blogilates: Pop HIIT 2	Rest Recover Stretch	6 mile run
Week 3	Fitness Blender: HIIT Like a Girl Pt. 2	4 mile run (70-80%)	30 minute interval run*	Rest Recover Stretch	Blogilates: Pop HIIT 3	Rest Recover Stretch	7 mile run
Week 4	Fitness Blender: HIIT the Ground	4 mile run (70-80%)	Mr. Shut Up&Train: Extreme Cardio	Rest Recover Stretch	Blogilates Pop HIIT 4	Rest Recover Stretch	9 mile run
Week 5	Fitness Blender: HIIT Ladder	4.5 mile run (70-80%)	40 minute interval run*	Rest Recover Stretch	Blogilates: Pop HIIT 5	Rest Recover stretch	10 mile run
Week 6	Fitness Blender: Advanced HIIT	5 mile run (70-80%)	Mr. Shut Up&Train: Bikini Body Workout	Rest Recover Stretch	Blogilates: Pop HIIT 6	Rest Recover stretch	11.5 mile run
Week 7	Fitness Blender: Comprehensive HIIT	6 mile run (70-80&%)	Mr. Shut Up&Train: 5-4-3-2-1	Rest Recover Stretch	Blogilates: Pop HIIT 7­­­	Rest Recover stretch	13 mile run
Week 8	30 minute interval run*	Run 6 miles	4 mile run (60%)	Rest Recover stretch	3 mile jog (take it easy)	Rest Recover Stretch	Race Day!!

*Interval Runs: Run 5 minutes at 70-80% à 1 minute at 100% à 5 minutes at 70-80%