HM Training Week Two Recap

Week 2

Last week was week two of  the ten-week half marathon training plan from Runner’s World that I am following.

Last week’s schedule called for four runs, all at a slow training pace, totaling 17 miles for the week.

Last week was also the week I traveled to Seattle (2,777 miles away) for a work conference, flying in on Monday and out on Sunday.

During the week we had sessions and events, sometimes lasting past 1030p – which is tough when you are two time zones behind your norm and your typical bedtime is ~ 930p.

During the week we also had made plans to meet up with friends, visit breweries, see the city, and eat all the Veggie Grill I could.

I knew running while traveling, especially with such a hectic schedule, would be tough but you know what? I made it work. I had to switch the days around a bit to accommodate traveling and spending time with a friend who came up from Portland and I also had to figure out where the heck to run and what areas were safe. It was a pain in the ass.

But guess what? It was totally worth it. I logged in some great miles and saw some breathtaking views along the way. It was awesome. Especially those temps- 50’s with like no humidity! I won’t see that in FL until November or December if I am lucky. It was terrific.

Last week my training pace goal was 12:47 min/mile for all four runs. What actually happened (thanks to hills and fantastic weather) was this:

5 miles on Tuesday @ 12:08 pace

3 miles on Wednesday @12:02 pace

2 miles on Thursday @11:02 pace

7 miles on Friday @11:45 pace

I tried to just focus on a comfortable pace during each run and take time to enjoy the scenery. It was nice. I am not mad about my pace, I know now that I am back in FL and know my routes (and am running through soup) it will be much easier to SLOW DOWN.

Week 3

This week is the first training week I see a double digit run- 10 miles on Saturday. I was battling jet lag and just the normal post-travel funk pretty tough on Monday and Tuesday so I had to, again, switch up my running days. This week I have four runs scheduled, for a weekly total of 20 miles. The plan is:

5 miles (3 @ HMP) on Wednesday

3 miles on Thursday @ 12:47 pace (this was supposed to be Monday’s scheduled run)

2 miles on Friday @ 12:47 pace

10 miles on Saturday @ 12:47 pace

Today I got in 5 miles before work. The plan was one mile warm-up, 3 miles at half marathon pace (11:27 was the goal) and one mile cool down. The results:

Mile 1- 11:29

Mile 2- 11:24

Mile 3- 11:08

Mile 4- 11:05

Mile 5- 12:30 (this was my target pace for my warm up but I was running easy so I just went with it)

Total time: 57:37 and an average HR of 122bpm

BOOM! I love that I am starting to push my run a little faster and I was able to maintain a really comfortable pace and low heart rate. Yay! Improvement!

Well, that’s about it for now. Stay tuned for a recap on my first 10-miler of 2014 next week J

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxox