Week 6 Half Marathon Training Recap

This week's long run was 9 miles!  My longest to date.  Scroll down to see if and how I survived!

Monday

I wasn't able to fit in the circuit run today so I I just completed Super Short Strength Circuit 3 instead.  These strength training videos and moves are really working because I am starting to see definition in my arms!  Who knew? Seriously, these moves are tough but totally doable and you don't have to spend hours and hours away from your kids doing them so there are no excuses for not getting them done.

Tuesday

I moved some of the runs around on my plan because we were forecasted to get some spectacular weather that I just couldn't pass up running in.  Tuesday ended up being my rest day with SSSC3 (see video above).

Wednesday

I am so glad that I moved my 6 mile long run to this day!  The weather was gorgeous for early March.  I can't think of many days in the past that it hit 70 degrees in New England in the WINTER.  I planed on running the first 3 miles on my lunch break and then the last 3 when I got home.

After 3 days of basically rest, my legs were ready to run!  In fact, I ran my fastest mile ever - 9mm!  It is still hard to believe that 7 months ago I was only able to "run" 1 mile at a 15 mm pace.  I try to remind myself of that whenever I get discouraged in my training.

I was hoping that I would PR for a 5K on this run, but it just didn't happen.  It was still one of my fastest 5K's that I've run.  I did notice that my quads were on fire because of the pace I was keeping.  Time to do more runner's lunges.  All and all, it was a glorious run just like the weather.

After work, my husband told me to hurry up so I could get my last 3 miles in before the sun went down.  I actually managed to pull it off.  My legs were tired by then and just wanted to recover from earlier, but I got it done and my time was really good (for me) too.

Thursday 

Otherwise known as "Hill Repeats!" day.  It was another gorgeous day weather wise so I knew this was the day to get actual hill repeats done and not just run up and down my stairs.  Again, I quickly did some laundry and packed my running clothes to run on lunch break (or "runching" as it is known in the running world).

No doubt about it, my legs were tired.  Once this run was done I had put in 9 miles in under 24 hours with a not-so-great night of sleep.  I started out by running for a mile to warm-up and then it was time to tackle the local hill by work that I picked out.  My goal was to run up it and then jog back down it for 15 minutes.

It was hotter than I was used to so the heat got to me and I felt dehydrated to boot.  Luckily, the side of the street that I was running on was in the shade.  I definitely didn't charge up it at full speed as I was supposed to, but once I got going I was able to up my pace.

Once the 15 minutes were up, I jogged back to work feeling very sweaty and tired.

Friday

For Friday I had the option to run 3 miles or cross-train and then perform SSSC3.  I decided to give my poor tired legs a break and just did 20 minutes on my husband's rowing machine and the SSSC3.  I was so happy it was Friday because my body and mind were ready for a break.  I really didn't know what to expect for my first 9 mile long run the next day.

Saturday- Long Run Day!  

9 miles.  9 miles that I had never run before.  9 miles that I wasn't sure I was mentally ready for.  9 long miles, on a warm March day in New Hampshire.  

Sometimes you surprise yourself and today was one of those days.  

I took my nutrionist's advice, more on this in another post, and fueled up with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a half a cup of Bolthouse Farm's Mixed Berry.  Prior to that I had fasted for about 16 hours per usual.  

For mental prep, I read this blog post from Sarah at Run Far Girl.  I decided to try to run this 9 miler like she suggested.  I made my first 3 miles my warm-up and took it as slow as I was comfortable with.  Then for my middle 3 I dialed up my pace a little, but not too much since I wanted to leave enough energy to run my last 3 as fast as I could to the finish.  Now my last 3 were not my fastest 5K times ever, but mile 5 was my fastest of all my miles and mile 9, which included a hill, was my fastest mile running up that hill (miles 3 and 6 included the same hill).  Not too shabby.

After that I run, it became clear that I need a hydration pack.  I'm just getting too dehydrated.  I hope to pick one up in the next week or two.

9 miles.  Wow.  How was it that just a few months ago I was chugging through 1 mile?  This is why we train though to make the runs more bearable.