Marathon to Half Training Week #2

I told you guys in my LAST POST that I had 5 weeks between finishing Flying Pig and running my next half. Since I'm only two weeks post marathon, I'm still not sure which goal I should set for this race. I know what my heart wants but I'm not sure what my body will be able to do. I'd like to think I still have plenty of time to recover and feel well for my race.

 

Like week one, this week had its ups and downs but was better than expected. My goal for the week was to run pain free. I wanted to take it easy for most of my runs except for my one planned speed workout (speed this week was supposed to be marathon pace so not horribly fast). Here's my training recap:

 

Monday- Cycle (30 minutes, 11 miles) and Stretch

Tuesday- 4 miles, 9:09 average pace

Wednesday- 3x 1 mile repeats (8:09, ?, 7:38), 5 miles total

Thursday- 4 miles, 9:38 average pace

Friday- Stretch

Saturday- 11.27 miles, 9:33 average pace

Sunday- Lots of walking in Cleveland

 

 

The good and the bad:

• Cycling Monday= GOOD. It was a great warm up for a good stretch session. I was so tight at the beginning of the week and was getting referred pain down my leg from my tight piriformis.
• Tuesday and Thursday easy runs=GOOD. I focused on feeling very comfortable and enjoying time with my running buddies. Despite the ease of the runs, I was still feeling very tight. I stretched so much this week.
• Wednesday, my first speed workout post-marathon= GOOD. I was nervous about this workout because I didn't know how my knee would react to the speedier miles. I typically like to warm up and cool down more but time was not on my side that day. I did a 1 mile warm up, 1 mile 8:09 with half mile recovery, 1 mile at unknown pace since it was from mile 2.5 to 3.5, another half mile recovery, final mile at 7:38. NO KNEE PAIN!
• Long Run= BAD. If it weren't for the good company, I would have hated that run! The goal was 10-12 miles depending on how I felt. Based on how I felt the first 6 miles, I thought 12 would be doable. I should have stopped at 10. I started getting tired between 8-8.5 miles. Just after 10, my knee started bothering me. By 10.5, I had to stop and walk. As soon as I stopped, I felt nothing. I stretched my quad, walked a little more, then tried running again. I would get a quarter to a half mile into running and the knee would start hurting again. I did a walk jog until 12 miles (stopped my watch when I walked so I would know how much of it I ran). I felt totally fine upon finishing and haven't had any problems since. On a positive note, 10 is two more than I did last week and I'm listening to my body so I don't injure myself!
• Sunday: I had a tempo run planned but I went to Cleveland to cheer on two of my friends who were running the marathon. I decided that I walked enough to count it as my cross training day. I'll do my tempo tomorrow!

 

This week, I learned that I'm still trying to figure out my post marathon training limits. I have two shorter, speedier runs this week and the rest will be easy pace. I'll be visiting my parents in WV so I'm mentally preparing for the crazy hills!!