Half Marathon Training Recap: Week Two

I guess I'm really doing this half marathon thing, if I'm actually in week two of training!  Yay!

This week all my distances were lengthened slightly, and I was ready for the challenge.  Monday was 3.5 miles, so I hit the Reservoir and did two laps and instead of walking the path home, I kept running and it ended up being around 3.45 miles.  Close enough!  I didn't actually realize that the Reservoir path wasn't exactly 1.5 miles (I always thought it was!) it's actually 1.58 which when you are doing two laps can alter your pace a bit!  I've actually been a little bit faster when I ran the Reservoir, which was nice to discover.

Day 2 was either 2 miles or cross training just like last week.  I was going to just do my step aerobics while watching TV again, but come 10 PM the idea of doing step aerobics sounded like torture to me.  However, the idea of changing into my running gear and heading out to run at night evidently didn't!  I hit up the northern loop of the park.  I was a bit nervous because it was the latest I'd ever gone out for a run before.  Aside from the occasional "Oh my god, please don't kill me because I'm not fast enough to run way yet!" thought that would cross my mind, it was pretty peaceful.  I wasn't really that nervous, I crossed paths with fellow runners every minute or two so I felt pretty confident should the rare event something actually happened someone would have been along any minute.  Plus, my path is very well lit, so its not like some dark mysterious path out of a movie or something.  I have to say I was pretty proud of myself for getting out there and running.

Day 3 I actually switched with a rest day.  I was supposed to run 3.5 miles, but I wanted to try and make an unofficial 5K on St. Patty's Day and so I switched my schedule around.

Day 4 I was supposed to have run my 3.5 miles, but alas work kept me from meeting people for the 5K and I didn't feel like running that late again.  Friday night I already had plans, and I absolutely had to get these 3.5 miles in.  So, I had a decision to make.  Either run late on Thursday, or get up early and run before work on Friday (something I had never done before.)  I actually chose Friday before work.

Day 5 when my alarm went off at 7 AM, I lay there and contemplated whether or not I was actually going to get out there and do this.  I eventually pulled my ass out of bed and ran!  I couldn't honestly believe it.  The only other times that I'd run that early in the morning was for races.  Its kind of a different breed of people who run in the morning.  I can't really put my finger on what it is, but it's just a different vibe.  A side effect I realized throughout the day on Friday is that when I run in the morning, I'm STARVING the rest of the day!  Holy moly!  Of course Friday night's plans ended up not happening and I could have run once I got home as it turned out.  Ugh, oh well.  It was nice to have the night without having to worry about getting out and pounding the pavement.

Day 6 Saturday called for 5 miles, which is the farthest I'd ever run to date.  I was ready to get back out there and do it again.  I found a route that wasn't too hilly but it was about 5.25 miles.  I figured I would rather run an extra quarter mile than to have the extreme hills of the north park.  I didn't regret that decision...  About two miles in I realized I had actually forgotten to start my heart monitor watch, so I wasn't timing the run.  Boo!  I was curious as to what my pace was going to be.  I wasn't really pushing it, because I didn't want to run out of steam.  But this week even when I wasn't pushing too hard, I was hovering around 14:15-14:30 minutes per mile.  Considering when I started out running in November I was above a 16 minute pace, I'm pretty happy with the progress!  I need to be under 13:45 for my time to be counted in the half marathon though.  Gotta get it down by late May.  Totally doable I think.

Day 7 Today is a rest day.  Looking forward to doing some errands.  I got up early to cheer on the NYC Half-Marathoners.  Go ERIC!!  Then I'm doing laundry (because its crawling out of the hamper by itself) and grocery shopping.  Then NOTHING!  Woohoo!

So, my mileage for this week hit an all-time high for me.  I ran 14 miles this week!  That's crazy!  The most I'd done before was 10.  It's a huge accomplishment.  I basically ran a half marathon over the course of week.  It's even more insane when I put it like that!

This coming week might be a bit of a challenge schedule wise because my show starts performances on Saturday, which means late nights of rehearsals through the week.  There might be some more late night runs, or early morning runs.  We shall see how I feel.

Hope you all had a great week and a good St. Patty's Day.