Second Half Marathon Training: Week 4

I want to bottle this feeling I had about this week’s runs.  Just the sense of pride I have right now.  Week 1 of training was a little mixed up because of the Turkey Trot.  Week 2 was screwed up because of illness.  Having the first two weeks not go as planned did not do well for my confidence.  The training plan I picked makes each and every run TOUGH.  In these 12 weeks, there are no happy fun lazy runs around the neighborhood.  The SLOWEST goal pace is 9:40, and that’s on my long runs (which are 8-12 miles here on out).  My tempo runs, which are up to 8 miles, are at 8:55.  The sprints are even faster and get longer and longer.

This week I finally got the chance to do a normal week of training.  Monday, it was sprints. which is honestly the thing I am MOST confident with keeping the required pace.  This week, it was mile sprints.  I have to say, I LOVED this workout.  It was difficult but the rest intervals made it tolerable.  The first mile was felt great.  The second and third was TOUGH by the end but not falling-of-the-treadmill hard.  It’s going to be brutal to tack one and then two more mile sprints at the end of this, but I look forward to the challenge.

Wednesday was COLD as HELL (ok, I don’t want to hear from you people with windchills below 0, it’s cold for me) and was in the low 30s in the morning.  I was planning to get up and run.  I even got dressed in my running gear, poked my head outside, and went right back in.  I left my running gear on, put a sweater over it, packed my bag, and headed to work.  I would conquer the cold at lunch.  I ended up out in about 40 degree weather.  At first it was a little chilly, but it was a huge breakthrough – it wasn’t that bad at all!  Also, I had planned to do my 5 mile tempo but ended up actually going 7 (my route went NOTHING as planned because of construction and I ended up on the other side of our office area at 5 miles so I just kept going).  I really enjoyed knocking my long run out in the middle of the week!  The mileage was estimated – I spent a lot of time running circles around parking lots – but I was bookin it and ran for 70 minutes.  I definitely don’t PREFER running in the cold (give me a 70 degree morning ANY DAY) but I felt awesome that I conquered my hesitation to run in winter temps.

By Friday, I was SO dreading this run.  Five miles.  Under 9 minute pace.  I didn’t even get that on race day.  It was Friday night, I was a little bummed that we were missing a fun-sounding holiday party, but I just kept telling myself that I had 5 miles between me and my weekend.  And if I made my pace, I would celebrate somehow.  I did a 5 minute warmup, reset the treadmill, and started again at 6.0.  I decided that I was gonna attempt a true tempo, so after the first .75 of a mile of ramping up, I hit 6.7 and just WENT.  I felt strong, I felt confident, and most importantly, I felt like I could hold the pace even if it was tough.  So I did it.  For 3.5 miles.  Then, at 4.25 miles I knew I had some time to make up, so I started ramping it up again, and by the end I was going 8.0.  My final pace? 8:57 miles.  Under 9.  I beat my race time 2 weeks ago by 1:05.

Then, we made amazingly delicious homemade pizza for dinner/breakfast the next day, which was much better than any crazy holiday party.  Or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The DDR circuits were in there too (Tuesday and Thursday) and I yoga’d Monday.  I meant to do another yoga session but got busy with holiday stuff.  Oops.  MUST YOGA TWICE THIS WEEK SOMEHOW.  I stretched well after each run but I can still feel tension.  MUST YOGA.

I went into this week scared.  I am coming out of this week feeling like a badass.  I am ready to conquer these next 9 weeks because I have it in me.  Sub 2 hour half, here I come!

Training for week 4:

Monday – 6×400 sprints @ 1:58 pace (with one mile warmup and one mile cooldown and 400 rest in between) = 5 miles

Tuesday – DDR circuits

Wednesday – 6 mile tempo run @ 8:55 pace

Thursday – off (holiday party)

Friday – 30 day shred (need something effective and quick as I have dinner plans)

Saturday – 8 mile nice outside long run @ 9:40 pace

Sunday – rest

Next week in theory should start my holiday break and I should be back to 2 weeks of training on whatever schedule I want, but since I have a shippable at work I’m in charge of that has to be done by the end of the year, I might have to work some half days that week.  But we shall see.

This is the week where the appetite starts to kick in too.  I can already feel it.  At least this time, I’m craving boatloads of protien, more dairy, and veggies instead of all carbs all the time.  I’m sure that will come later, or perhaps training this way is changing the way I crave.  It could make sense.  Each workout is brutal, so protein/dairy helps build my body back up stronger, but I have enough rest time that I don’t need to be pumping constant FUEL ME NOW energy into my body.

The problem is I’m sitting here at my desk, having eaten a 20g protien bar this morning, a huge buffalo chicken lunch meat sammich for lunch, and I’m currently destroying a full 1 lb bag of baby carrots.  It is not long for this world, folks.  And I’m pretty sure before the workout, I’ll be digging into the pistachios and the blackberries too.  I mean – it’s all ridici-healthy and all (minus the nummy onion bun instead of the normal horkin’ fiber bread), so I can’t be too upset.

The plan is to really watch it this month.  Eat super healthy on most days so I can just kinda let myself graze until I feel fueled without being restrictive.  On days I have holiday plan-type-things, make sure I watch my portions and fill up on all the healthy stuff I can.  Or moderate.  Like last night’s party where there were 4 appetizers and 3 desserts and NOTHING was healthy and the meatballs actually ended up being the best option.  Or Saturday night when bacon fudge made an appearance.  It was AMAZING.  I broke my no sweets/drinking in the same day rule twice this weekend, but it was totally worth it.

So I’ve got my playlists set, my gymbag with me, and I’m ready to rock some sprints tonight.  Hopefully I can stop shoveling carrots into my mouth by that time.