Hi Friends!  I made sure the last two weeks had more strength training in them to avoid the weird knee pain do to not strength training at all for two weeks (see cardio junky recap here.)  How did that happen? I think when I became a trainer somewhere in the manual it must say to repeat after me “I will not be a cardio junky, cross my heart, hope to die lest I stick a needle in my eye.”

I can’t believe I’m two weeks out from hopefully maybe finally running my first half marathon, I’m pretty freaking nervous but I need to calm down I’ve still got two weeks! I’ve heard the taper can be really hard mentally but that you need to enjoy it!  So here we go.... 

Week 7

Sun (⅓)- OFF

Mon (¼)- This workout at a nearby gym

Tues (⅕)- home workout looked like this:

Wed (⅙)- 4 mile run —> the day I finished last.

Thurs (1/7)- January Jumping Workout at Home

Fri (⅛)-OFF

Sat (1/9)- 7.67 Miles 

Week 8

Sun (1/10)- repeat Monday’s workout

Mon (1/11)- 5 Mile Run

Tues (1/12)- This workout from PBF

Wed (1/13)- 3 mile track workout + warm up, 3 one mile repeats

Thurs (1/14)- Nike Trainer Ap Total Impact 45 Minutes

Fri (1/15)- OFF

12 Mile Run

Sat (1/16) - 12 Miles 

I’m pretty sure Saturday was my longest run ever!  The first half of the run was mentally hard, I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it.  Cardiovascular wise I know I’m fine, but muscular strength wise is always my worry.  Any pain always freaks me out like it will be permanent, even though it won’t be.  The second half of the run felt physically hard especially after mile 10.  

1Mi- 10:53

2mi- 10:51

3mi- 10:48

4mi- 10:26

5mi- 10:35

6mi- 10:53

7mil- 12:14—-> stopped and walked at the turn around point.  This is where my running friends started pounding their gu’s, it made me feel like I was doing something wrong.  However, I know it’s too late to switch up my fueling plan now, what you practice is what you’ve got to do so I’m sticking with my tried and true UCAN, as long as I time it right it should work out just fine.  Also, Pandora started buffering, a warning I need to put my own playlist together.  

8mi- 10:46

9mi- 11:23 —-> dropped my freaking water bottle IN. THE. CANAL.

10mi- 10:40 

11mi- 11:12 - I was sure my feet wouldn’t carry me anymore

12mi- 10:36

Total Time 2:11:26.1 10:57/mi

Thoughts

I screwed up my training plan a bit, I was planning to do 11 miles this week and 12 next week.  However when I told that plan to my running friends I was advised against it, they said I should start my taper, no more than 6 to 8 miles next week.  Which means I should have done 11 last week and 12 this week.  Oh well, it is what it is, no plan goes perfectly!  What is that old saying?  “If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.”  So ya, I’m not going to worry about it (only totally am, but I'm going to say I'm not going to worry about it).  I did the 12 so I know I can do one more mile and that is the important part!  

Question of the day:

What was your favorite part of your weekend?

What advice do you have for me for my first half?