Weekly Workout Recap: Almost half time!

My first half marathon is less than a week away now.  If I got injured at this close to the race, I would be horrified.  The only person that would be more horrified would be my husband.  Primarily because he's ready to not have to hear about this half marathon anymore and an injury could prevent that. 

So to prevent horrifying either of us, I attempted to act like a reasonably intelligent person and not overdo things this week.  I ran three times, walked a lot and even did some weights for my arms.  The walking was my "let's not overdo it" substitute for step aerobics.  Although I might have gone overboard and walked 15 miles.  Which is a lot.  But I was off work all week and had more time and the weather was really great.  So, really, it's not that overboard.  Maybe?   Eh.

My runs this week included two 3 mile runs and a 6 mile run.  After having run 10 miles two times now, my brain no longer considers 6 miles a long run.  This is another sign that I've officially lost my mind.

I don't know that I'm ready to describe 5 miles as easy but for sure easier.

The highlight of my week was finishing one of my 3 mile runs in under 30 minutes.  That's fast for me and I was one hard workin' woman huffin' and puffin' during that run.  But I was super excited I did it.

As I close in on my half, I've started contemplating new goals for myself once I cross that finish line. For so many months, that half finish line was the goal that drove me.  Having a goal has served me well.  I'm thinking I don't want to try operating without one.  One possibility I've been mulling over has been working on getting faster and trying to finish a 5K in under 30 minutes.

I'm thinking that will involve some speed work.  But I'm also thinking the smartest advice I've ever heard about speed really is, If you want to learn to run faster, you need to run faster.  Because, I successfully ran faster this week.  It just wasn't as comfortable as the pace I'm used to.  But I pushed myself and did it.  And there was a time when my current pace seemed like a giant uncomfortable pipe dream.  But I pushed myself past my comfort zone and now I do it regularly and it no longer feels as difficult.   So maybe I just need more of the same.  

I didn't push myself as hard on my other runs this week.  I was trying to remember my "let's not horrify anyone" motto and just get the miles done.   And I did.

 

My plans for the upcoming week include continuing to not overdo it and look forward to race day.  I'm starting to get pretty excited.  In fact, it's actually sort of annoying that my employer will expect me to be productive and get stuff done for the next few days.

How am I supposed to do that?  Do people not realize that I need to obsess over which pace group I should stick with?  The answer to that being the 2:20 pace group, by the way.  That's best case scenario.  Falling back to the 2:30 pace group being Plan B.  Falling all the way back to 2:40 is worst case nuclear winter style scenario.

My husband tried to tell me that my goal should just be to finish and not worry about time.  I know.  It's almost like the man hasn't met me.  Of course I plan to finish.   But I also plan to dig deep.  I'm prepared for it to be hard.  I'm prepared to feel exhausted.  But I'm also prepared to tell my inner lazy girl to suck it up because I'm not stopping.  Bring it on!

 

Linking up with Little Girl in the Big World!