Rock Hall Half Marathon Training: Week 2

Let me start off by saying this: my toenail is barely hanging on by a thread. It’s giving me anxiety daily. I just want it to fall off and I have no interest in pulling it off myself. I’m totally grossed out. And now that I’ve grossed you out as well, let’s talk about last week’s half marathon training. 🙂

When I first started working with my coach, I originally intended on racing a 5K on the 4th of July. As it got closer, however, I decided not to. My coach had written my plan as if I were racing, so last week’s training was speed-heavy. And it was super fun. After all the long, slow miles from marathon training, this was a much needed change. It was fun, I was focused, I felt like I had good form — the whole nine. And since I’m chasing a fall PR, I’m sure there’s a lot more speedwork in my future. I’m pretty excited!

Monday — yoga

I was slacking on the yoga front for a while. But now that I’m back in a training cycle, I realize how important it is for me. Not only does it stretch and strengthen my calves, quads, and hammies, but it helps stabilize my core, which is key for good running form. I love yoga days.

Track Tuesday! — 3.42 miles

Had so much fun. Met up with Julie and Noemi for some speedwork. This wasn’t a VO2 max workout. More just to keep my legs fresh for the upcoming 5K (which didn’t happen). I did tell my coach ahead of time that I wasn’t racing, but he seemed to think it would be good for me anyway. It was so fun! And I adjusted Julie’s and Noemi’s paces to reflect their needs as well. All in all, the three of us had a decently hard workout. I loved it.

Thursday — 4 miles

Again, Thursday’s workout was to reflect an upcoming race, so my coach had me doing some strides throughout mile 3. It was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I felt pretty tired after, but I felt like I put in solid effort. And I had fun doing it, which is definitely an added bonus.

Saturday — 5.18 miles

Happy 4th of July! Saturday was supposed to be race day. Instead of racing, my coach scheduled me to run 5 miles with the middle 3 being tempo miles. I told my running group my plan beforehand and I had every intention of following the plan. Where we start, however, is not conducive to tempo running. You see, we park at the bottom of a hill. It’s not to say the hill is extremely steep or anything, but it definitely has a decent grade. And it lasts for a mile and a half. Literally. I checked my watch.

Happy 4th of July!

So basically, as soon as we were at the top of said hill, I realized my tempo run was not going to happen on Saturday. And given my effort, I was totally okay with that. I stayed with Julie for most of the run (she’s speedy, as is evidenced by previous posts) and my perceived effort was pretty hard. I was happy with this run, despite not achieving the tempo portion.

One thing I will have to remember for future runs, however, is that I need to either carry or stash water. And I think that goes for all of us. 3 miles with high humidity isn’t really a big deal without hydration. 5 miles is kinda bordering on foolish for running without something to drink. At one point we were all taking swigs from David’s lone, small water bottle. We were all parched by the time we got back to our cars. It was pretty pathetic. We’re all experienced runners. We should have known better!

BUT, thirst and tempo running aside, we all dressed up in festive colors and attire for the 4th. Nothing too crazy but I think we looked pretty epic. I tried to locate my red, white, and blue Mardi Gras beads but I couldn’t find them. Probably better that way or else I would have gotten smacked in the face while running. And Julie has this awesome pinwheel headband that she didn’t bring, so I think we’re going to make her wear it next week. 😉

The crew.

And it turns out David and I have matching flag boxer shorts from Old Navy.

From 1995.

So. Awesome.

Don’t be jealous.

After my run, I got home and made waffles with the fam (more on that tomorrow). After waffles, I challenged my husband to join me for the #FF100 July Challenge from FitFluential. We had to do 100 lunges. Which is very daunting at first. But after realizing I already do 120 daily, it was no biggie. We rocked it.