Half Marathon Training: Week 6

Week 6!!! And THIS Saturday and Sunday are my first of a few upcoming races! Yep, I have the Plano Balloon Festival 5K and Half Marathon THIS weekend! I had a great week of training, and this week is a bit different for race-prep. The goal is to beat my Half Marathon PR of 1:50:00. I have done 3 half marathons and think I have a lot of room for improvement. My ultimate goal is to get in the 1:30’s but I do know that it’ll be a process! I’m just happy to run a race that’s overall fun and feels good.

I am also confident that I can get my running level to where I want to be with consistent work, determination, positive thoughts, and the brilliant coaches over at Lifelong Endurance. HUGE thank you and shout out to LLE for coaching me through my running journey.

Let’s dig in!

Monday

Plan: 6 miles easy/6.0/58:17/9:43 min/mile

Ran: 6.03/58:19/9:20 min/mile

Runch! (Lunch run) – the weather was perfect and this run felt amazing and easy. According to my journal, this one deserved THREE whole smiley faces.

I was looking back at old pictures and saw that 6 months ago, I ran 14 miles at an 8:30 average pace. That was an easy run then. Lately, that would’ve seemed impossible – but not today. 8:30 felt easy again!

Tuesday

Plan: 2 miles easy, 12 x 1:00 @ 7:15-7:10, 1:30 @ 8:30, 2 miles easy/7.5 miles/1:07:38/9:01 min/mile

Ran: 7.51 miles/1:05:06/8:40 min/mile

Tough run, but I felt pretty strong. It was warm, but not completely unbearable. I didn’t stop to walk once! I really wanted to at that 10th rep, but I kept telling myself I could do it and kept pushing. I felt powerful and energized after this run!

Wednesday

Plan: 5 miles easy/5.0 miles/48:45/9:45 min/mile

Ran: 5.01/47:52/9:33 min/mile

I felt stiff and tired to start but felt better throughout this run and overall it was a good run. It was warm again – we were teased with some cooler days last week – but again, not completely unbearable. In fact, it was a lovely day and overall enjoyable (warm) weather. 🙂

Thursday

Plan: 4 miles easy/4.0/39:00/9:45 min/mile + Crosstraining

Ran: 4.02 miles/38:48/9:39 min/mile

I didn’t like today. You know those days? Just the entire day is off, doesn’t quite go your way, etc. Yep. It was that day. Work was stressing me out, I was tired, all of the above. I missed my 5:45 am spin class… I even woke up, got up, fed Derby, then just didn’t feel great. I felt like I’d be pushing it if I went. I thought I could use the extra sleep vs. the extra workout. Though bummed, I listened to my body. I got my run in, so there’s that.

Friday

Plan: 2 miles easy, 4 miles @ 7:45-8:00, 1 mile easy/7.0 miles/1:04:45/9:15 min/mile

Ran: 7.01/1:00:40/8:39 min/mile

TOUGH run! I wanted to stop SO. BAD. so. many. times. Even just a half mile in to the 4 tempo miles (@ 7:45-8:00), I wanted to take a break. But! I DID NOT STOP. Not ONCE! I’m EXTRA freakin’ proud of this one. I ran at 5 am and didn’t feel comfortable going this speed in the dark, even with a headlamp (not worth tripping), so I ran EIGHT laps in a parking lot. I really didn’t mind. I just pretended it was a big track. I even had a homeless man for my cheering squad! Woo hoo! This one really boosted my confidence. I just kept telling myself “you CAN keep going, so just DO IT!” and sure enough, I did!

Saturday

Plan: Long run! 6 miles easy, 3 @ 8:30, 2 miles easy, last mile hard/12.0 miles/1:57:00/9:45 min/mile

Ran: 12.02 miles/1:49:42/9:08 min/mile // last mile: 7:56

This long run felt good! Easy miles felt easy and I felt strong throughout. The last few miles were tough and slightly grueling, but again, felt strong. It was humid and quite warm even though I started at 6:00 am, but it could’ve definitely been worse. I felt like this was a solid and successful long run and felt good afterwards. Post-run tacos helped. 🙂

Sunday

Rest day!

Miles for the week: 41.5 (67K)

What keeps you going and motivated when you want to stop during a run?

What motivates you when you don’t want to/feel too tired to run/workout?