Saturday, December 19, 2009

A Training Update

Tomorrow's long run will officially bring me to the close of 7 weeks of training for my first half marathon.  After this week, there are 9 weeks of training and one week of tapering before the big race.  I think that means that Christmas week (next week) marks my halfway point in training.  That's exciting, isn't it?

I realized I've neglected updates on my last few runs.  I apologize to the hoards of you hanging on my every word (Mom).  :)

Last week's scheduled long run (8 miles) ended up getting rescheduled because of ice.  Then cancelled because of ice.  I was going to try and fit in on Monday but got some helpful advice from a friend who just finished her first marathon this past October.  She said to just shake it off and start Monday fresh and do what the schedule says - rather than trying to "make up" the long run.  Otherwise, you end up getting that "I'm behind" feeling - which can be really discouraging.

I did some good thinking about that option and decided she had a point.  Plus, I do happen to have two weeks of "wiggle room" left in the difference between the number of training weeks I have, and the number of weeks until the race.  I figured last week could just use up one of my "wiggle room weeks" and I could just do last week's over.  So that's what I did.  :)

This week of training found me running at night, a big change.  And with Daniel staying home with Ethan while I headed to the gym, another big change.  Tuesday night I did two easy miles.  Wednesday night I did some weights stuff (still working on those pull-ups!) and threw in an extra mile because I really want to hit 100 miles this week.  Friday night I did a 7 mile speed training run.  It went way better than last time.  I finished in  1:32:48, only like 9 minutes faster than my 10k back in October.  And I even did a whole mile at 5.5mph, which is just a sneeze faster than an 11 minute mile.  A major milestone. :)  I also did three separate laps at 6mph - which is an epic triumph in my book. 

I'm looking forward to my longest run ever tomorrow morning.  8 miles, here I come!  I'll cross my "100 miles run" mark.  Good times.

2 comments:

  1. You should be so proud of yourself for what you have accomplished. *amazed*

    (this is Vicki. I can't get it to show my name instead of my business name)

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  2. Awesome! Way to go on reaching the 1/2 way point! Congratulations!

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