Mid-stream Change in Plans

Ok - different daughter than Tupelo. This one is 16 and fights weight, laziness, etc. Not uncommon with teenagers. She agreed to run a marathon in order to get a car to drive to school. We've targeted the end of October (DC, Grd Rapids) for her run. She ran the Scream 1/2 on July 14 in 2:40, but seems to have stalled. She is following the Hal Novice 1 plan, but in looking at here runs, its a lot of run for a minute or two, walk for a few, and on and on with little consistency.

So help > Should we look into the Galloway (sp?) run/walk system for the last few weeks? Or is it just too late. I personally find it painful to watch her go out there for 4 1/2 hours to only get in 16 miles or so of run/walk with no dicernable pattern. I give her all the credit in the world for going thru this, but am now trying to help her get thru these long runs and the final weeks. I have no issue with her walking but want to give her the best chance to succeed.

Any help out there in the 365 world?

Upgrade the car.

I think the Galloway approach might work well for her. It won't get her a great time, but it'll give her the sense of committing to something and following through despite complications... and it'll give her the sense of accomplishment of finishing something difficult.

Jerry wrote:Upgrade the car.

Its a 2004 Elantra. A $2500 car. But the way these kids kill cars its the best she's gonna get.

The Galloway program works, but I'll be honest in that using a car to motivate is fine, but she might have other interests than running a marathon, especially since I think that I ran my first marathon way too young at 18. My 19 yr old daughter is not a runner in any way shape or form, and being small (with more of her Dad's genes than mine), she struggles with weight, fitness, etc. I found that she loved to work out but was afraid of the gym by herself, so I got her a young Personal Trainer and that made all the difference in the world. Good luck with this, Michael, but don't push her into being a runner, if she doesn't want to be one. (PS my Mom tried to push my sister into running (she is 3 yrs younger than I), and she hated it. She has not run or exercised since high school and I blame some of it on the pushing from my Mom).

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:The Galloway program works, but I'll be honest in that using a car to motivate is fine, but she might have other interests than running a marathon, especially since I think that I ran my first marathon way too young at 18. My 19 yr old daughter is not a runner in any way shape or form, and being small (with more of her Dad's genes than mine), she struggles with weight, fitness, etc. I found that she loved to work out but was afraid of the gym by herself, so I got her a young Personal Trainer and that made all the difference in the world. Good luck with this, Michael, but don't push her into being a runner, if she doesn't want to be one. (PS my Mom tried to push my sister into running (she is 3 yrs younger than I), and she hated it. She has not run or exercised since high school and I blame some of it on the pushing from my Mom).

I agree with you Michele 100%. I didn't get into all the background in my earlier post, but I've encouraged her to walk, workout, take dance lessons, soccer, bike ride, whatever - anything to get her moving on a regular basis. She pretty much said no to all those so I threw out the car carrot. I have no intention of making her a runner, but if I can at least get her thru this, then maybe she will find some other physical activity more to her liking, although she likes the fact that she has dropped a couple of pant sizes, so its becomming a bit more self motivational and hopefully she'll find a healthy way to balance diet and exercise. Trust me, I've tried a lot of alternatives. I'm not real excited that she's doing a marathon, but being that most of the rest of the family are runners to some extent or another, she seems to have a least grasped on to this for now.

Hey...how about just walking the marathon. No shame in that and she doesn't have to straggle along, she can hoof it and still have a decent time (probably closer to 6+ hours for a start) but...she'll have done it. Not that many weeks left and if she goes into this final training cycle thinking that all she needs to do is walk it, throwing a little running in there now and again (downhills, straight aways etc), she'll actually enjoy the process. After this one, perhaps she'd like to train to run one...maybe even with Dad.

I am thinking the run/walk method would work pretty well. If possible, run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute. It is goign to be a long haul and I'm afraid if the most she has done is 16 miles, that there will be some motivation issues those last 10 miles.

Is there any chance she could find a group run that she could join. My daughter is in a similar situation and she's finding the long runs very tough (boring) on her own. Unfortunately her friend backed out and she's unable to find a group run that fits her schedule. She's still plugging away but it's been tougher both mentally and physically than she expected. She lives 3 hours away so I can't train with her but will be joining her on marathon day.

Does anyone plan to run/walk the marathon with her? I'd be nervous that even if she made it to the starting line she may not finish without some encouragement along the way...that might do more harm than good in the long run...