Half Marathon Training, Between Week 10 and 11

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.  I switched around my training a bit, so I’m just going to list what I did!

Sunday: 11 mile run

Check!  Woke up a little later than I would have liked and got out around 10am instead of closer to 8/9, but the more training I can do in the heat, the better I’m supposing.  It was a great run, I felt good the entire way, Zliten actually followed me the whole way on the bike (minus the first 2 miles) and we chatted and it helped me keep my pace easy.  I barely used my mp3 player, which is good, because the race doesn’t allow headphones.  Yipes!  All in all, this run made me feel much more confident that I could easily tack on 2 more miles, and though I don’t think I can tack on those 2 miles without adding time (the 11 miles I did in 1:59, my goal for the half is as close to 2 hours as possible), my biggest goal is just to complete the race.

Monday: 2.7 mile run and yoga

I was still sore from the epic run the day before and low on time (I had somewhere to be right after work so all I had was the morning workout time), so I did one lap around the neighborhood and decided yoga would be more beneficial.  I made up the time later in the week so it worked out.

Tuesday: weights and a 45 minute tempo run

Check and check.  The plan was 60 mins DDR in the morning and weights in the evening, which is obviously not what happened.  I woke up late so I did weights at home instead.  We then changed plans from relaxing to socializing that would make it a later night, so I decided that doing the run when I was fresher and less tired was a better idea.  I ran on the treadmill, because running 5 miles in 95 and humid is not my idea of a good time.

Wednesday: yoga and 60 mins DDR

Check and check.  Morning yoga, and DDR at night.  I had really wanted to run here because it was National Running Day, but I figured it was more important to take care of myself than celebrate.

Thursday: 5.3 mile run, 2 mile run, weights

Check, check, and check.  In the morning I ran around the neighborhood twice, it was a good, comfortable, easy run.  After work I did a 2 mile treaddy run, and then a short weights workout.  After two weeks of hard training with only one day off, I was so very ready to be done.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Rest

Friends came into town and were staying with us, and I made sure I didn’t have to be ducking out of plans to workout.  It’s a good thing too – I had thought *maybe* I’d like to get an extra yoga session or 2 in to keep limber, but I didn’t have time.  I can tell I’m getting to the end of a really hard 3 months of training because even after 3 days off – I still have muscle soreness.  I do feel a lot more rested and besides putting a lot of crap into my body I probably shouldn’t have, I think it’s just what I needed to have one more really strong week of training before the race.

Total week 9 mileage 26 (running):   (plus 1-2 miles of walking)

Week 11 – the last hard week of training

Monday – 5 mile run, weights at home

Tuesday – 10×400 track intervals (more likely, treadmill intervals) and yoga

Wednesday – 60 mins DDR, yoga

Thursday – 5 mile run, weights at the gym

Friday – Rest

Saturday – 12 mile run

Sunday – Rest

Things I learned last week:

I usually do 5 things, but at this point, I’m just repeating the same things over and over.  I am confident I can finish this race, I don’t think 13 miles is much different than 11.  I’m nearing the end of a pretty rigorous training cycle, and while I’ve enjoyed pushing myself, I am ready for a break soon.  I’m going into this week feeling better than normal, so that’s a bonus.  I have 5 more hard workouts this week (and one tempo next week) and that’s it.  Another bonus.

I’m just going to dig in, finish what I started here, try to eat as healthy as possible, try to cool it on the partying (the next 2 Fridays are carbo-loading, relaxing, and sleep, no going out), and get as much sleep as I can this week.  I think if I make it to Saturday post-run, I’ll be in good shape.  I remember this feeling from gymnastics – what started as fun gets tedious.  What started with enthusiasm and “let’s-do-this-it’s-a-challenge”, now is going through the motions and “what did I get myself into”.  Then, the big meet comes and it’s fun again and all the hard work pays off.  And then, you just can’t wait for the next one to do even better.

I’m ready for my big meet.  I’m ready to put my training to the test.  Almost.  Two more weeks.  Thanks for hangin’ in here with me and hope it’s been a tolerable, if not enjoyable, ride!