3 Weeks to Princess Half Marathon
Wait, is that right? Three weeks? ACK. As I said in the Princess thread, I'm so excited and so scared. But mostly excited. I'm not pushing myself super hard on this race as I want to take it all in, but I still want to make a good effort.
(Ugh, I just typed up a whole bunch and somehow deleted it!)
January 24: 4 miles easy. Time: 55:53. avg pace 13:58 /mi.
January 25: was supposed to run this day but didn't. I think it was because I was feeling crampy.
January 26: 11 miles easy. Distance: 11.11 (was super proud of this, haha), Time: 2:33:50, avg pace 13:51 /mi. My notes say: "Quads started hurting around mile 7. Feet started hurting around mile 10. Switched to 15/30s around mile 9.5." It was hotter than usual and I had to switch my intervals to stay in zone 2. I ran a new route and it was a nice change of pace.
January 28: 3 mile easy run. Distance: 3.11 mi. Time: 42:53. avg pace: 13:47 /mi. I did the big hill and my heart rate didn't go up as much as it usually does.
January 29: HM tempo run. Distance: 4.02 mi. Time: 51:14. avg pace: 12:45 /mi.
1 mile easy, 2.5 miles HM pace (12:28), .5 miles easy.
I did a new route and it was a nice change of pace, but it took me uphill during the last .5 mile and it was not great, Bob.
I was faster than I should have been, which has been a common thread of these tempo runs. I keep trying to reign in but even when I feel like I'm holding back, I end up being faster than I should. Hopefully this bodes well for the race.
January 31: 3 miles easy. Distance: 3.12 mi. Time: 43:50. avg pace: 14:03 /mi. I also did the hill on this run and didn't go into zone 3 at all. It was colder again, so I'm sure that helped.
February 1: 3 miles easy. Distance: 3.09 mi. 41:40. avg pace: 13:29 /mi. This was mostly continuous (I did take a few walk breaks) with strides.
February 2: 8 miles M tempo. Distance: 8.00 mi. Time: 1:43:59. avg pace: 12:59 /mi.
This was, by far, my best and favorite run of this training plan. I felt so strong throughout, and I did a new route that was super nice and I'm definitely going to keep for my long runs. I ran down to a local park with sports fields about 2.5 miles down the main road (thankfully there are very nice sidewalks), and then did a few circles around the park. The baseball fields are at the "bottom" of the park furthest away from the main road, and the soccer fields up "top," with a playground and basketball courts in the middle. It was nice having some elevation change to keep from getting bored, haha.
My M pace is 13:21 and as you can see, I ran over 20 seconds faster than that. Oops.
Again it was a case where I tried to slow down and thought I was, but my watch said differently. My last mile was 12:22, which is faster than HM pace, but it did not feel that way at all. It was colder again, so that probably helped. Also, despite my pace, I only went into zone 3 for 6:02. That was probably helped by having to stop several times to cross streets. I also stopped to fill up my water bottle three times.
February 4: 4 miles easy. Distance: 4.00 mi. Time: 54:35. avg pace: 13:38 /mi.
My left hamstring has been a bit tight, but it hasn't affected my running. Hopefully it will go away after stretching and icing.
This week is my peak week of HM training with 28.5 scheduled miles, and my longest run on Friday at 12 miles.
I feel like I've gotten faster this training cycle, but I also don't know if it's just the weather being colder.
I've been using Tailwind for fuel and it's been perfect for my last few long runs. I will probably carry an applesauce pouch with me just in case I feel hunger pangs during the race, but so far I haven't had any major issues since dialing back the amount of scoops. I've been doing 1 per every 40-45 minutes and it's been great.
I went to the US Olympic marathon trials yesterday and it was super fun and inspirational. They are so fast! I met up with
@WillRunForPizza and her mom, and she has a good recap of the day in her
journal.
