four awesome training tips.

So. I "know" this runner chick, Tammy, and I put it in quotes because I have never met her - but her and I chit chat back and forth via twitter (follow her on twitter @tammymullins), dailymile, and on our blogs. She is probably one of the most disciplined and dedicated people I have ever run across and she is a kick butt runner. She emailed me 4 training tips that I had (a) thought of but not implemented (b) never thought of or (c) had heard of but left it as in one ear out the other. I thought they were worth sharing and I will probably look back on them in the future.

::as an edit... I did shorten some of the tips...but I left in the 'meat' of the tips::

1. You have to schedule your runs in your calendar! Schedule it like you would an appointment.
2. You have to run 3-4 days per week (and I would err on the side of 4 days per week). Your longest run before your half marathon should be 11-12 miles. As a rule of thumb, your long run shouldn't be more than half of your total weekly mileage. So, if you're running an 11 mile run on your long run day, you should be logging more than 22 miles that week.
3. Your runs have to have a purpose. Generally, you can't just walk out the door with no plan on how fast or how long you're going to run. I know that Sunday is my long run day and I'm running x amount of miles at a specific pace. The long slow runs help you build endurance. I know on Tuesdays I'm going to either run hills or do a track workout (speedwork), and I know how many miles and at what pace I'm going to do. Hill and speed workouts help you get faster, and if you're going to run a hilly race course you HAVE to train on hills. I have read that hill workouts provide just as much benefit as speed workouts, so you can do one or the other. That's 3 days of running that have a specific purpose, the other two days I just run short easy paced runs to get my mileage in. If your course is hilly, I would run hills on the days it says speedwork instead of going to the track. Or, if you’re feeling frisky, add another day of running and do 2-3 miles of hills that day.
4. Your weekly mileage is what counts! You're never going to reach your goal running 10 miles per week. You have to gradually increase your weekly mileage, though, or you can injure yourself. The more running you do, especially at different paces, the faster and easier it's going to get. Log more miles, and I guarantee you will get faster.

Some definitions that I have always been wondering about:
Tempo run: A tempo run is run at a pace that is faster than your long run, but slower than the pace you would run during speedwork. It's kind of in the middle, maybe even close to your race pace.