Half Marathon Training: 7/20–7/26/14

I’m so glad this week is over! It wasn’t my best in terms of running. I was slow and was honestly a little discouraged this week. I’ve felt pretty beat up/exhausted between running, working, and trying to get stuff accomplished before moving. However, I can’t help but be excited that in less than two weeks I’ll have finished the Charles St. 12 miler and then I will officially be focusing on Lake Placid Classic Half Marathon! I finally registered for it the other day – I couldn’t be more excited!

Sunday 7/20: Rest, worked breakfast. 11,189 steps.

Monday 7/21: 4.61 miles, worked dinner. This run was a total struggle. My first mile felt fine, but it quickly went down hill. I could never really get into my stride and it was simply so humid. I was so happy to finally get home, even if it meant cutting .4 miles off of what I set out to do. 23,276 steps.

Tuesday 7/22: Rest day – went to Portsmouth with my Grammy on my day off! 9,212 steps.

Wednesday 7/23: 4.73 miles @ Great Glen Trails, 57:38, worked dinner. I’m always slow when I go to the trails but I absolutely love the challenges of the trails and hills. I’m definitely going to be there every week until I move! 19,256 steps.

Thursday 7/23: Rest day. Went to the doctor’s in the morning and slept all day from some meds I had to take. I totally didn’t mind the extra sleep. 1,933 steps.

Friday 7/24: 8 miles, 1:24, worked dinner. I really liked this run, for the most part. It started off really well and I felt strong until around mile 4. I then took a honey stinger which helped but I still struggled the rest of the way home. I think it was funny that when I told people where I was going they were like “that’s all downhill!” Well, to my surprise, it actually had a net elevation gain of 34 feet – so hah! It was very downhill though, and the uphills were gradual. I did the downhills purposefully to get my legs used to a lot of that pounding in preparation for the Charles St 12. 26,999 steps.

Saturday 7/25: Unfortunate rest day, worked breakfast and dinner. I was supposed to do a 5k with my mom this morning but I wasn’t able to get it off from work. I’m happy my mom still went and improved her time! They gave her my shirt as well. I don’t feel as bad wearing it to bed – it was pretty comfy. 22,921 steps.

Weekly mileage: 17.34 miles.

It’s a little bit of a downer that after my 20 mile week, I haven’t hit that mark again. That’s my goal for this week – to get in 20 miles again. It’s hard to fit 4 days of running in Monday-Friday. I never have time on Saturday and on Sunday I’m normally sleeping/recovering from a long weekend (I literally have blisters on blisters). I’m hoping to go out running/walking with my mom tonight which will be taken nice and easy.

A bright spot of this week is that I truly look forward to my long runs, and really enjoy them. I don’t go out with a set pace in mind, I just listen to how my body feels. This week will be my last long run before the 12 miler and I can’t wait to challenge myself to 10 miles! During my long run this week, I realized just how weak my core is. I’m so bad at strength training – I never do it. But I realize that it will really help me feel stronger physically. I found a “august ab challenge” on pinterest that I’m going to try to stick to for the month!

How was your running this week?

Do you like to do core work?