HHH: Week 1

Hilly Half Hustle

 

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Pardon the crappy lack of editing of the screen shot. This is my 2015 mileage compared to my 2016 mileage through the end of October. The difference blows my mind. Sure, I've had a few obstacles this year, but damn.

 

I will be running a half marathon in a suburb of Nashville on December 10th and have 6 weeks to make my body tolerate it! (Hence, "Hilly Half Hustle") ;) If I learned anything last week, it's that hills are SO HARD for me right now!! It's so frustrating.

 

I decided it's time for me to suck it up, get my rear in gear, and hit those hills! BAD NEWS: It's going to be hard. GOOD NEWS: I love hills, and I'm up for the challenge. I'll make myself do a hilly route at least once a week to help myself get used to it. Hills are slim pickins around here.

 

• 10/31: 6.01 miles, 9:05/mile; Core Workout. Halloween Run! I met up with a big group of girls for a fun Halloween run. A few of us met early to get an extra mile then met everyone else for the 5@5. For no particular reason at all (maybe we can blame it on my waffle), our first mile was 9:53. The next was 9:12 with the rest being sub 9.
  

  

  It's too early for this ish.

  
  

  

  Happy Halloween!

  
  
• 11/1: Strength workout + 2 mile walk with Ruthie (15:41/mile). I knew I needed to rest from running after my rough weekend runs. I decided to go ahead and do one of my strength workouts (included mostly leg/core). The day was too gorgeous not to get out so I decided to go on a stroll with Roop. When I saw our pace, it made me reminisce about when I was rehabbing from my metatarsal fractures. I remembered how much I struggled to walk any pace faster than 17:30 because the pain was unbearable. Today, the pace we walked was very casual. Hard work and dedication pays off.
  

  

  Barbie tights. Nuff said.

  
  

  

  Roop turned 12 weeks old! Love my girl.

  
  
• 11/2: 10 miles, 9:04/mile. Today was my last day of medical leave after the car accident. I had to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and get my long run out of the way. I decided to run the course I would be pacing on Sunday so that I could become familiar with it. It's flat as a pancake and has lots of turns. The start was 3 miles away, so I ran there, ran the course, and ran home. Ten miles is going to be my shortest long run for 4 whole months! EEK!! I'm a little freaked out by that.
  

  

  Fall leaves and sports bra runs...this runner's dream.

• 11/3: 6.01 miles, 8:44/mile. Last night, me and a couple friends decided to cancel our planned morning run. It worked out well because I was up later than usual, and I had some extra time in the afternoon to squeeze in my miles. I was supposed to do hill repeats but opted for an easy effort run. I want to practice running without my watch for some runs so why not start today?! It was hard, but I was able to make it through six miles without looking at my pace or mile splits. I had no idea what to expect. I was really nervous to see my running stats. When I was brave enough to look down, I was pleasantly surprised by my average! Although I didn't get my hill repeats, my route did have three decent inclines mixed in the middle section of my route.
  

  

  Roses.

  
  

  

  Another sports bra run! I got to show off my VSX zebras.

  
  
• 11/4: REST...because it's healthy.
• 11/5: 8.3 cycling miles, 30:02; 20 minute leg/core circuit. I've been successful in completing all of my planned strength workouts for the week! Go me!! Now let's see if I can stick to it. On my cycling day, I try to remind myself that it's supposed to be a tough workout. I mean, it is replacing one of my running days. I kept the workout short, just 30 minutes, but I increased my intensity so that it felt pretty tough. I only wanted to barf twice. LOL! After a warm up, I did 1/1 minute intervals of leaning forward and pedaling hard vs. sitting up and decreasing my rpm's just slightly.
  

  

  Cross training. In hindsight, not the smartest thing the day before pacing that race.

• 11/6: 10.03 total miles (3.01 mile warm up, 9:16/miles; 4.02 mile race, 8:15/mile; 3 mile cool down, 9:20/mile). Today I was supposed to pace the 8:30 group for the One Lucky Buckeye 4 Miler, but me and my partner went just a little fast. Hey...it was our first time to run and hold a balloon stick thingy at the same time! I met the nicest girl, Danielle, and we tackled our first gig together. We traded the stick every mile and I tried my best to keep us from going too fast by having my face in my watch. We were actually perfect the first mile...8:30 on the dot...but got a little wonky after that [8:08, 8:18, 7:57]. After my experience, I wondered how the heck Amanda paced a marathon for the 3:25 group while holding a freaking pacing stick BY HERSELF the entire race!! Blows my mind.
  

  

  Post race with Danielle.

 

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I feel like Week 1 of Half and Full training was pretty successful. It's going to be tough sticking to a 4 day running plan, but I know it's important for me to decrease the mileage just a bit so that my body can catch up to what I know I am capable of. I know the importance of strengthening, and I really hope I can make it an integral part of my training from here on out.