Half Marathon Training Week 5: 1/25 – 1/31/16

Just like that, I am half way though my training for the Half at the Hamptons on March 6th. This training cycle has been flying by already, and so far I can say it’s going really smoothly. I like the plan I laid out for myself and feel confident going into this next week/month. To top it off, yesterday I signed up for my second half of the year, the Vermont Half Marathon Unplugged on April 9th. I did it last year and set a 7 minute PR. I’ll be doing the race with my cousin (well she’ll be hours ahead of me) so I’m really looking forward to the experience! Let’s look back on Week 5 of training:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 3 mi, 10:00 avg. Started out at a 10:20 pace and progressed to finish at a 9:40 pace. I felt good aside from my dang knee/hip/ITB pain.

Wednesday: Rest. Between my leg feeling tweaked and simply being stressed with school/work stuff, I pushed back my speed workout. I needed some time to catch up on professional things like an “adult”.

Thursday: AM: 60:00 PI-YO class

PM: 4.5 mi – speed work. My workout for today was 4 x 800 with 800 recovery (+.5 mi WU). Unlike every other speed workout of this cycle, I did these outside. I was pretty pleased with how they went, and my Garmin data shows that my speed stayed pretty consistent in my split times. 800 times (goal 4:20 – 4:25): 4:28, 4:53 (uphill + into a strong headwind), 4:11, 4:18. Avg pace for the whole run: 10:21. (ITB felt good! – it feels better when I’m outside).

I stopped for a second after the third one – I was dying and needed to thank Jesus for helping me stay upright over a huge patch of ice.

Friday: 3 mi. Just “another run”. I got stopped many times, between catching up with an old friend (yay) and three treadmill malfunctions (nay). I was so happy when this was done!

Saturday: 60:00 “Ripped” strength class, 15:00 yoga demo (it was an open house day at the gym)

Sunday: 8 miles is on the docket today and it should be beautiful! It’s supposed to be almost 50* here in Northern NH today! I may break out a skirt for this one!

Weekly miles: 18.5

This week brings a big challenge for me – adding another mile onto my tempo run. 5 miles at a 9:40 pace seems crazy to me right now. But looking back on the mental strides I’ve made in the past 5 weeks, I am ready to hit this run square in the face!

What was your best run this week? Did you get to hit up a fitness class or two?

I’m linking up with Megan on her weekly workout linkup today. Head on over to see some of the other posts!