Half marathon training plan

Success!!

I am eating some strawberries and trying to decide whether I should jump on the treadmill now or should I just wait until Troy gets home and do a quick run before dinner. My body is feeling the effects of this new way of training. I am thinking of just relaxing when the kids sleep and then running when Troy is here. My body and head need little R&R.

This morning I was feeling pretty skinny and decided to break my own rule and stepped on the scale. I was little nervous but it looks like all the miles in the last few weeks are paying off. The scale read 127.6. While I am not running to only lose weight, it does feel nice to finally get back to the 120s after hanging out in the 130s for months. Right now, I feel so strong and healthy and I love it.

On Monday, the coach had planned that I run a warm up mile and then 6 miles at 7.56-8:04 pace. I thought that he was out of his mind. Honestly, I didnt think I was strong enough for that. But I did it. I did not have enough time to do a cool down mile because Saku woke up and was super cranky, but I was so happy about the six miles at such a fast pace.

There are few things that are definitely beneficial about treadmill runs. You have to maintain the pace and it is not hot. I sweat a lot because there isn't much air circulation, but it is still little easier than evening runs outside.

Last night I did an easy 4.52 miles after the kids went to bed. Though it didn't feel easy, it was terrible. I had to work so hard just to maintain 09:10 pace. So I've decided to take easy runs easy and run hard for the hard workouts. Plus the heat, even at 7 pm, just make it so hard. I have to remember this so I dont get too disappointed when I feel like my pace is slower than it should be.

Mental Game

This week's training has been all about mental conditioning. It is not that we planned it this way, but it just happened that I have been more mentally challenged than physically challenged during the work outs. All three work-outs were on the treadmill. I am so happy that we have it, but it is more

Monday I warmed up with a 9 minute mile and then did 4 miles at 8:34-8:41 pace. I felt great and the only "negative" aspect was the fact that it gets pretty warm in the room when I run so I sweat like crazy. I was happy to report five mile work out to the coach.

Tuesday was a tempo run. I duplicated last week's run and warmed up for 10 minutes and then I ran for 20 minutes at 7:54 pace. Overall distance was 3.51 miles.

Yesterday's run was an interesting one. I was planning on running for six miles. I couldnt get my butt out of bed at 6 am so it was destined to be another treadmill run. It gets tricky to do longer runs while the kids nap since there is no guarantee how long they will sleep. And I made the mistake of waiting for a while before starting my run, so Saku ended up walking to my room after 2.5 miles. I stopped running and Prison Break, handed the iPad to Saku and put Yo Gabba Gabba on for him. For the next 2.7 miles, I just stared at the wall in front of me. I barely even run without music outside so this "no distraction" run was hard, but I did it. I didn't run all 6 miles, but finished at 5.2 miles. However, I felt good about it. I know I can physically run 6 miles and longer, so this mental challenge was good. The "old me" would have stopped running when Saku walked into the room, but I didn't let it be an excuse to stop the work out.

I also put away the scale. I wont weight myself for a while. I was getting really frustrated because the numbers wouldn't get smaller even though I am looking and feeling a lot better. So I will just concentrate on getting faster and stronger and hopefully when I do step on that scale again, the numbers will look good as well. On my last weight-in, I was between 131 and 132 so we will see what happens as my training gets more intense.

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday's run was a stroller run. I decided to just go for a run and run for 30 minutes. I usually run for a distance and obviously try to run it as fast as possible or at least I have a goal pace in mind. This time around, I just wanted to run for 30 minutes. I headed out about 30 minutes after dinner and it was a good thing that I was just going to run for 30 minutes while pushing Eerika. After two miles, I started to wonder if my dinner would come up. Fortunately, it didn't.

The jogging strollers tires were flat so it was harder to push. I ended up running 3.26 miles in the 30 minutes with an average pace of 9:12.

1.9:18

2. 9:07

3.9:04

3. 9:44 (0.26 miles)

Saturday morning I woke up and my legs just felt achy and I was tired. I had planned on doing six miles so I knew that if I wanted to run outside, I would have to get up early and run. Well it didn't happen. Once the kids went down for naps, I was debating between running and just hanging out with Troy. The coach even gave me an OK to take a day off. BUT i didn't! And I am so happy about sticking with the plan and jumping on the treadmill and running for six miles. It is my longest run on the treadmill. My pace was between 8:49 and 8:34 for the entire six miles. So pumped about this!

The first week's total was 21.5 miles!

Wednesday

Wednesday's workout wasn't great. I didn't expect much since I was just going out for an easy run. The weather was terrible. It was so windy. When I was heading east bound, I had to push so hard in order to just keep moving. I had planned to do about four miles, but dirt started to fly so I figured it was safer to go inside.

I ran 3.26 ( plus about 1/4 mile that didn't get logged in because I forgot to turn on my watch)

1. 9:09

2.9:16

3:9:08

Nothing great, but I was happy to get some miles in and stay consistent with my training.

The First Week

This week has felt like the first week of what I would call "running seriously". I am excited. I am also feeling little bit like a wanna be, but I think I will feel like that until I do my first race and feel like I am getting faster.

Monday's run was 4 miles (+ 0.3 mile warm up)

1.08:33

2.8:35

3.8:46

4. 8:32

average pace: 8:37

I left the house at 06:45 and it was little too warm by the end of the run. So my mouth was super dry but otherwise, I felt fabulous.

Tuesday's run was a tempo run. (total of 4.54 miles)

10 minute warm up at 9:24/mile

20 minutes at 7:55/mile (goal was between 7:42-7:45)

10 minute cool down at 10:34/mile

The tempo was hard. And the heat got to me, again! It was also humid so I felt sticky. When Troy told me about the run, I didn't think I could keep up that pace for 20 minutes and while I didn't hit the goal pace, I am satisfied and proud of myself. So much of running is mental so I need to re-program my brain to believe in myself and my body.