Half Marathon Training, Between Week 2 and 3

If you’ve been following me here this shouldn’t be any surprise, but for the rest of you and for my posterity, here is how last week went:

Monday: 3 mile treadmill run + full body weights at home

Check, and check. Did the weights in the morning at home, and did the run in the gym after work since it was rainy. Nothing spectacular to report here. Tried to make this an easy run, but failed. Especially on the treadmill, I just wanna be DONE.

Tuesday: yoga and 30 minute tempo run (5 minute jog, 20 mins at a fast but sustainable single pace, 5 minute jog)

I love me some tempo running. I like pushing my pace. Unfortunately I sorta failed at it being a true tempo run, but since it was my first one, I’ll cut myself some slack. I kept pace for about 10 minutes, then had to go slower for about 3, then found a pace that was somewhere in between the fast and slow for the rest of the duration. With my completely inaccurate timing system, I estimate I did about 2.5 miles in 20 mins. Which is about an 8 minute mile. This week, I have a new stopwatch watch so I can more accurately time myself.

Wednesday: 30 minutes DDR and yoga

Check and check. Did this in the morning because I anticipated a crazy late day at work which didn’t come, so it was a nice early evening to relax. Since it was a beautiful day we sat outside and drank beers, which did not promote excitement the next day for getting up early and running.

Thursday: 3 mile outside run + full body weights at the gym

Check and check. But ya know what, run I did. It wasn’t even so bad. I was able to keep myself at a nice easy pace and by the end I felt great! Then that evening, I hit the gym and did the long, slow weights session (half the reps – but not less than 8 because that seemed like a waste of time – and twice as slow). It was a nice change, but I’m not sold. I might throw this in every once in a while after this training is done, but I don’t think it did much for me. Maybe try 2/3 the reps next time.

Friday: 6 mile run

Check! Was a nice run. I ate a crap ton of food the night before and actually strode into mile 6 feeling energized and like I could keep going instead of exhausted. I did get a blister and felt my shoes were a little worn, but energy-wise – I was totally on. I wanted to try out my running skirt but it was too cold when I started out.

Saturday: Shopping

I only mention it because I was out shopping ALL day (from about noon until 9) and I think it made me WAY more tired than my 6 mile run. The weather was crappy and rainy and Zliten was tired from helping the neighbor with landscaping jobs this week, so we passed on the bike ride we wanted to do.

Sunday: Rest

Check. Spent Easter relaxing. The only active thing I did was playing bean bag toss with the ‘rents.

Total week 2 mileage (running): 15 (plus about an extra mile warmup and cooldowns)
Total week 2 mileage: 15

Week 3 has already begun! Here’s what’s on tap-

Monday: 3.5 mile run outside + full body weights at home

Tuesday: yoga and 6×400 (1 lap warmup, 1 lap 5k pace, 1 lap jog, repeat pace and jog 5 times, 1 lap cooldown)

Wednesday: 3.5 mile outside run + full body weights at the gym (one set to exhaustion)

Thursday: 35 minutes DDR and yoga (switched normal Wed + Thurs to have a more chill workout the day before my race)

Friday: 5k race!

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Bike ride (and hopefully canoeing)

Total week 3 mileage: 13.5 (plus whatever we do on the bike)

The mileage went down because the race takes the place of the long run, but a 3.1 mile all out is just as tiring as a long run! I’m looking forward to getting another race under my belt.

Things I learned last week:

1. The instincts of a gymnast are ingrained in me forever. On mile 5 of my long run, I was shuffling a bit and hit an uneven curb and tripped and fell. I essentially just rolled over my shoulder and kept going, I didn’t even stop or miss a stride. I used to do that in hurdles all the time. Made me happy that even 14 years after my last double full, some things never go away.

2. Eating a big dinner before particularly long/hard runs is essential. While I’m sure eating a big healthy breakfast, letting it settle for a few hours, and then running would be better, I can’t (won’t) do that. It was nice to feel like I wasn’t sputtering out of gas by the end of the run. Will try not to have the dinner include so much fried food and sugar next time, though….

3. Partying the night before is an effective, but not recommended method of keeping myself to a easy running pace.

4. I am really getting into getting either half or all of my workout done before work. It sets the tone for the day – if everything else is going wrong, at least I had a great weights/yoga/run session. I am realizing that Friday mornings are going to become increasingly earlier and earlier.

5. There is no real judge on how your shoes are holding up better than how they feel the last mile of a long run. Prompted me to go get new shoes this weekend since I felt great beyond my heels feeling a little less padded than they should an developing a blister on my left arch. Strangely enough, after trying on all the shoes in the store, I went with my same pair in a different color, in a half size smaller. Who knew that 40 lbs lost = half a shoe size!

Comments are still disabled due to spammers from hell, but I’m going to tinker with it tonight again, I swear! If anyone can let me know how to install a captcha required on WordPress here, or any other ideas on how to keep the blog on a spam-lite diet, please email me at pinksparkly at yahoo dot com. Otherwise, I might just be moving the blog somewhere spambots can’t go. Hope everyone had a happy Easter and I’ll be back soon, hopefully with commenty goodness!