Training Tuesday! 6 more weeks until the Columbus half marathon, and I am seeing some renewed hope. Most of it has to do with realignment of expectations and goals. Am I sad that my “comfortable” pace is now around 1:30 slower than what I was training for a year ago? Maybe. BUT, am I happy to be running and seeing improvement? Yes!! Improvement doesn’t always mean a time goal, it means being happy. Run Happy is my goal 🙂
Here’s how my last week of training looked:
Monday – 4 miles, 11:04 pace. It seems silly to wake up so early to get my run done before my kids get ready for school, I mean to run 4 miles compared to the distances I used to run in full marathon training (6 – 13 miles), but I get a feeling of great accomplishment getting it done. Treadmill miles, and it felt good.
Tuesday – typical day of walking around, and I made sure I got my 10,000 steps for the day.
Weds – 5.5 miles, pace 10:44 Isn’t a half mile an odd distance?? My plan said 4 miles, but I really wanted to do more. I had time, and I thought 6 miles might be pushing it, so I went with 5.5. Why not! I ran on my treadmill again and it was a good run. I’m having a lot of success with being able to keep my pace slower and not really caring what my pace is. And I’m cleaning up my DVR. Win Win!!
I made it to the gym for my PT exercises, and did some weights. Big muscle day!! 🙂
Thurs – Cross train day…. but I really didn’t do anything. I did get my recommended steps in though! It was busy day – cross country meet for my son. Can you find him in the start pic?
Fri – Long run day, 10 miles: pace 9:54 This run was pretty awesome. See my previous post about it here. Spoiler alert, I changed this from an 9 mile run to a 10 mile run!!
Sat – Rest day! I worked at a race. More on that later this week!
Sun – 2.5 miles, pace 9:42 I went for a run with Zachary. I figured that since he’s in cross country now, and he had the day off, he should run 3 miles with me. He had other ideas, and we called it done at 2.5 miles. 🙂
Total miles this week: 22 miles – excited I broke 20!!
I’m linking up with Courtney over at Eat Pray Run DC. Check out all of the fun workout recaps over there!
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Q: Do you track your steps?
I have been more interested in my daily step count now that I’m not running every day.
Q: Would that make you cringe to finish at a 1/2 mile for your run?
I used to always end at “0”, but lately I’m just good with whatever!
Girl! You have some guns!!!! Awesome!!! I so need to get my upper body in check!!! Lookin’ good! Keep it up!
I too am training for a half…. I am 8 weeks out! Sticking to plan and trying not to over think too much…. I Have a time goal, but after reading this, I think I too will just focus on training and not get hung up on “time”… why stress the future, right?!
And, I had not realize your son had gotten into cross country! That is cool!!! Man, you have a whole family of runners!! I couldn’t think of anything more awesome!!
Aww thanks. Wish I could work out my legs a bit, but the strength training must wait now. I’ll stick with the arms 🙂
I just got done reading your blog post. HAHAHA on that cartoon!! My husband even thinks those things are funny. Boys will be boys.
And you… you need to strive for those goals! Your hard work has been paying off. Don’t be afraid to be successful. I know you’ve got it in you! (…but me, I’m recovering so I need to take it easy)
I don’t think I have ever in my life ended a training run on a .5. I had a 14 miler on Saturday and I was short by .4 when I got back to my car so I ran around the block and then up and down the street until my Garmin finally chirped. Kind of ridiculous when you realize that the Garmin is probably off by a certain percentage anyway, but it’s all about the mind game when it comes to running. Boston registration opens on Monday. Is your husband in the +20 group? I am running with a friend this morning who always BQs by at least 30 minutes. GRRR……. Wish I could just BQ by 3 minutes!
Yep, I know that BQ feeling!!! Alan is 13 mins under, well, 18 under with his birthday this weekend (yeah new age group!!). Plans are that he is going solo to Boston in 2018. It’s just not working out with the school/kids schedule for a trip.
I’m glad you stopped by… your race is soon, yes??
September 17. Hopefully the BQ window for 2019 will open that day. I will be 65 in 19 and get an extra 15 minutes! Only good thing about getting old. 15 minutes more per age group.
Oh man, I’m only getting 5 mins more for 2019 when I change age groups. 15 is good!! I’ll be sending all of my good vibes your way for race day and registration!
I don’t mind ending a run on an unevent number and usually do it. Honestly, the extra .5 miles add up at the end of the week so it’s kinda neat to see just how many more miles you can run in a month or year from adding on a few MINUTES to some of your runs. It looks like you had a great week and got some good runs in, as well as going to your son’s meet and volunteering. My watch tracks my steps but I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it.
Amy Lauren Scott recently posted…Weekly Rundown: August 28 – September 3
This is true – those little bits sure do add up all week! We are all about the steps around our house, especially now that my son has a Garmin watch. He was really left out before, but now he’s competing against us every day for the most steps!!
Great week! Some really awesome runs, lady. And lots of fun as well, it seems! 🙂
courtney @ eat pray run dc recently posted…Berlin Marathon Training Recap – Three Weeks To Go!
Thanks! I’m definitely having an upswing!
I LOVE training for the half distance! SO much better than the full (in my opinion). I hope your training continues to go well and keep up the strength workouts! I’m always so excited when I find runners who also see the value in cross-training and lifting weights to make them better in all areas. And your arms prove it!
I do enjoy doing arm weights because they do pay off! Half marathon is my favorite distance too.
Oh my goodness. We think exactly the same regarding this: Run Happy is my goal. I just wrote a post where I said the same thing before I read this! YES. That’s what it’s all about, right?!
Jennifer @ Dashing in Style recently posted…Getting Older & Adjusting Running
I was getting so disappointed in my running because it wasn’t as fast as I thought it should be. Bad idea. Time to enjoy what I do have! Thanks for stopping by my blog!!
I like to pay attention to my steps on days I don’t run, but sometimes its really sad to see those low numbers! I’m lucky if I get 5,000 on a day i don’t run.
I used to really like to end my run on an whole number but now I don’t really care!
Lisa @ Mile by Mile recently posted…Goodbyes, Our Pet, and My Fingers are Crossed
Yep, I’ll be around 3,000 on a work day that I don’t run or get out for a walk. Makes me feel pretty lethargic! 😉