Well… I didn’t see Sage Canaday this week, but that’s to be expected since I don’t think he visits Kansas much. I did have some solid training and put up 34 miles in my last week before the A1A half. Some miles were good, some were ok, some were pretty miserable. I guess that’s to be expected though.
Monday: 4.1 miles at easy pace + yoga
It was pretty nice out, so this was a rather enjoyable run. Since I had run 12 miles the day before, I treated this like a recovery run and took things really slow. It felt good and easy, and I really think I was good about keeping it at an easy pace.
Tuesday: 6 miles tempo run at (hopefully) half marathon pace + yoga
This was a pretty tough run. I went out with one of my friends that is a bit faster than me. There were a few miles where I was thinking I’d have to slow down, but I pushed through and I am glad that I did. We even kept our last two miles under 8 minutes (which is more like 10k pace for me). This was an incredibly confidence building run. I felt that in a race and on tapered legs, I might be able to hold that pace for A1A… which would result in a pretty substantial PR.
Wednesday: Rest – I taught 7 yoga classes, so I think that should count for something!
Thursday: 4 miles easy + yoga
I went out in the afternoon for an easy paced run. I kept it chill and felt totally comfortable the whole time. I think I’m getting better at pacing these easy runs!
Friday: 6 miles – Fartlek run 1:2:3:2:1 (5k:10k:half:10k:5k)
This was a HARD fartlek. I went out for a mile warm up on a gravel path that loops around town. I then did 1:2:3:2:1 minutes at (5k:10k:half:10k:5k) with a slow jog in between each pace. I did this pattern twice… and the second time around, pretty much everything felt hard. However, my 5k pace got faster on the second time, so go figure. I definitely suffered a bit, but it felt good to go out there and push the paces a little.
Saturday: Hiked 6 miles, no running
Frank and I went out with some friends to a trail south of town. It was a slow hike and it felt good to walk off some of the soreness from the fartlek run the day before.
Sunday: 14 miles LSD
Holy cow… this run was a beast. Frank and I hiked in the morning, so I didn’t get out until the afternoon. This was a huge mistake. There were 40 mph winds that brought me to a halt several times. Even when the wind was to my back, it was still hard to run. I felt like I was thinking about keeping my form together the whole time and I often times felt like I was terribly slow. By the end, I was really tired and stiff. Basically this was a sufferfest. Hitting 14 miles before a half marathon is a big milestone for me. I don’t like to go into a half without overshooting the mileage by at least a little. I actually usually prefer to do 16, but I didn’t quite make it. Despite that, this run was still hugely helpful for my confidence heading into next week.
Total: 34 Miles!
This is my biggest mileage week in a long time. It felt great to be back to heavy training. I think the workouts I did this week will really help me at A1A. Hitting some quick paces on my tempo run made me feel like I actually have a chance at a big PR. I, honestly, don’t think this week could have gone better.
Well next week is race week, this is what is up for me:
M: 5 miles easy pace
T: 6 miles with 4 at MP
W: Fly to Florida
T: 3 miles easy pace
F: Chill + some yoga
S: Rest
S: A1A Half Marathon!!
Total: 27 miles
How did your week go? Anyone have any races coming up?
She Runs the Wasatch 
Your downtown looks so cute!
7 yoga classes!? Is your full time job yoga instructor?
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Yeah! I work at a retirement home and assisted living facility and work with people who have Parkinson’s Disease. I teach yoga, boxing, and some more therapy based classes where we work on learning to get out of a chair and how to walk again (forwards and backwards). It’s a really fun job!
Manhattan is pretty good at cute. I wish it was better at not being in Kansas, but I guess I can’t ask for everything. haha!
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That’s amazing that you felt like you could hold your 10K pace for an entire half marathon! Nice job! I have a lot of my most confidence boosting workouts in the first few weeks of training, too. It’s important to have that confidence going into the harder parts of training. I think this is a good spot in your training to run a half marathon, since it seems you have your heart set on a fast race: it’s late enough that you’ve put in some good hard work but early enough that you still have lots of energy and aren’t feeling the effects of cumulative fatigue yet. I’m sure you’ll do great!
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I hope it goes well. I haven’t actually run a 10k for a few years, so my 10k PR right now was the second half of my last half marathon. Haha! It is good to have these confidence boosting runs now. I remember as I was getting closer to Chicago last year, I was having trouble keeping my paces right and my confidence was waning.
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No sage…guess I’ll come back later lol
Very strong week, those sufferfest runs are super important if you want your body to improve and show up on race day. I like to hit similar milage to my races as well. I like the confidence of knowing I’ve already hit the distance.
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Nicely done! That fartlek sounds super tough, but really fun and awesome at the same time. And yes I would say that 7 yoga classes definitely counts for something!
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What a fantastic week! All that yoga is probably keeping you so strong and ready for your long runs. They definitely count!
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