Half Marathon Training: Week Seven

MONDAY 1/23
The plan: Strengthen & stretch
What happened: “Krav Maga.” It’s in quotes because it’s a combo krav maga/women’s self defense/general fitness class, which means that none of those goals REALLY gets effectively accomplished. But I did enough to work up a sweat and definitely got a bit of strengthening out of it.

TUESDAY 1/24
The plan: 4.5 mile run, + yoga
What happened: 
 
+ yoga. 

WEDNESDAY 1/25
The plan: Cross training
What happened: Walked 4 miles from work to Michael’s Arts & Crafts to get craft supplies.
 

THURSDAY 1/26
The plan: 5 mile run
What happened: Nothing. I didn’t get up in time to run, and after work it was cold and raining. I decided that even though it was still going to be cold and raining in the morning, I’d rather run in the cold/rain/light than cold/rain/darkness.

FRIDAY 1/27
The plan: Rest day.
What happened: Made up for Thursday’s missed run. Cut my mileage in half but at least got out there.

SATURDAY 1/28
The plan: Cross training 
What happened: Post-it workout and a long walk.
 

SUNDAY 1/29
The plan: 8 mile run
What happened: Happy run!
 

Last week’s goals recap:

• Don’t skip any workouts. Done! I swapped some days, but it happened.
• Do the post-it workout three times, even if it’s in addition to something else. Fail. Did it once.
• Do at least one of my runs at a faster pace than all of last week’s runs. Done! Every run was faster. Hooray!

This week’s goals:

• Post-it workout x3
• Don’t skip any workouts
• Score a goal at soccer
• PR my 10k time on Saturday
• Replace one short run with hill repeats and/or speedwork

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8 happy miles.

It’s amazing how easily I can talk myself out of working out, as though I’m doing it for my own good. My back ached this morning from an assortment of activities the past couple days, and my obliques were sore from doing kettlebell windmills as part of my workout yesterday. My legs were a little tired feeling, probably due to lack of stretching yesterday.

I woke up at 8:15, ate a bagel with peanut butter, then lay in my bed planning a running route. Then I got lazy and by the time I was actually going to leave at 11 I was hungry again. I stood in my room trying to think if I should REALLY go running today when I was obviously in so much pain. Finally I told myself to shut up and get over it (we’re talking tired muscle ache, not injury pain) and took a chocolate Clif shot as a breakfast supplement.

By the time I got to the end of my block I knew I was fine and that I’d made the right choice. I zoomed through the first couple miles and by the time I got to the Brooklyn Bridge I saw I was averaging 10:02 miles! What?

I lost some speed on the hills of the bridge, ran around City Hall Park, then back over the bridge. Took a mocha Clif shot on the bridge and by the time I was back in Brooklyn my pace was still close to 10:30, even though I was stopping for short walk breaks as needed.

The end result was THRILLING. 10:36 average pace, plus my first mile in 9:15? I didn’t know I was capable of moving my body that fast for that long. I’d like it if my mile splits weren’t so all over the place, but consistency can be something to work on in the future. If I can maintain something close to this average pace, I can take about 10 minutes off my last half marathon time. 7 weeks til race day, I think I’ve got time to make that happen?

I also tested out what I think I’d like to wear on race day! I wasn’t super happy with my choice to wear all skintight clothes for half #1. It’s not that I was uncomfortable, but I did occasionally have to tug my shirt down when it rode up and there were some not-totally-flattering race photos. I thought I’d opt for a slightly more forgiving top for this race, and I’ve been on the hunt for a red tech tee to match my favorite capris. I found it yesterday at Marshall’s for $12 and it was surprisingly un-sweaty after 8.4 miles. Except for my back, which was drenched, but somehow doesn’t appear that way in the picture I took of it.

Runs like this make for all the bad ones, times a million.

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I don’t know why it took me so long to realize…

…that my second half marathon is exactly 6 months after my first! #1 was the day before my 27th birthday, and #2 is the day before my half birthday.

Today’s schedule calls for cross training. I didn’t get up in time for bootcamp, and I would like to run hill repeats in Prospect Park, but I am feeling a little lazy and want to save my legs for tomorrow’s 8-miler*. So instead I’m going to do a post-it workout while watching L&O:SVU and then go run errands by walking. Gentle cross training! Then crafts!

*at first I typed 80miler. No thank you.

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Run when it’s raining.

Run when you don’t really want to. Run when it’s early. Run when you don’t really have time to.

Not because it will make you feel better or like more of a badass (though, it will), but because all of the above will make you go faster without actually noticing or trying particularly hard!

All of the above statements were discovered on my run this morning, which was speedier than usual even though I cut my mileage in half (due to rain and not wanting to break my phone) and even though I hit every damn traffic light on my street on the way home.

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Dreams.

Last night I had a dream that absolutely GUTTED me. All day, thinking about it brought me to tears. I felt silly trying to explain it to my roommates, because when I say it out loud it sounds so ridiculous, but my dream last night was like someone made a movie out of my worst fear and then forced me to play the main character.

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mental health is health too

Yoga mat?

I’m looking to buy a yoga mat for less than $40. Amazon seems to have a few deals today but the ones in the under-$20 range were all reviewed as being too slippery. Anyone have a recommendation for something affordable (not spending $80 on a mat, sorry) that is a little stickier for someone who tends to slide around in down dog?

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