HHH: Week 3

Hilly Half Hustle

 

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 Getting back into shape is SO HARD!!! UGH...but I digress. Another successful week of sticking to my training plan (minus the fact that I had to cut my cycling workout short). I practiced with gels again during my long run and race pace run. I used Clif and Carb Boom this week. Neither of them upset my belly, but they are both pretty thick. Clif is much worse than the Carb Boom regarding thickness. The thought of swallowing it makes me want to barf. I think I may try PowerGel next or just stick with Carb Boom. It all sucks so I've totally wasted your time by typing all of this.

Love my boy. The last nice day of the season. BOO!

 

• 11/14: 4.3 cycling miles; leg/core circuit. I initially planned a track workout for today, but my legs were tired from the weekend. I'm just not used to the long runs yet! I went to the Y that evening with James. He LOVES playing with his friends at Child Watch. Unfortunately, time was not on our side this night. I had just enough time to do my workout as long as there were no hiccups (Jimmy had somewhere to go later that night). Halfway into my cycle, they told me James pooped in his diaper. UGH. I brought his bag in case it happened, but, by the time I would have changed him and returned to the bike, it would have been time to go home so Jimmy could leave. I was annoyed the rest of the evening because I didn't get to finish my dang workout.
• 11/15: 7.63 miles, 8:49/mile. Track day! My first track workout in probably a year. It was SO HARD!! OMG. The middle school track is just 1.89 miles away from my house so I used that as my warm up and cool down. I did 5x800 meters with a 400 meter recovery. The goal was to run the 800s at 5k pace which I decided would be 7:50 based on my 5k a few weeks ago. The first four intervals were a little too fast, but I was tired enough by number five to keep it where it was supposed to be. Shortly after I finished, I could feel my muscles tightening! Geez!! My body just isn't used to this crap yet.
  

  

  Track=Serenity

• 11/16: 6 miles, 10:00/mile. I needed an easy run to recover from that track workout. I had offers from my usual training crew, but knew I'd be tempted to go faster than I should for recovery. I'm really trying to be nice to my postpartum body! My New Albany friend, Rhonda, was gracious enough to run with me and keep me in check. This run was perfect for me on this day. I was able to get the miles without killing myself. I love that I have a well rounded group of running buddies!
  

  

  A bunch of crazy people.

  
  
• 11/17: Core workout. This was supposed to be my complete rest day, but I didn't have a chance to make it happen yesterday.
  

  

  Stretchy stretchy.

• 11/18: 8.06 miles, 8:21/mile. I recruited Marion to help me with my race pace run this week. This week felt SO much harder than last week. I'm not sure why because last week had some pretty shotty hills. Despite that, my miles this week seemed a little more consistent and were more progressive than last week. I can't pace worth a crap right now.
  

  

  Marion keeps me fast.

• 11/19: 12.01 miles, 8:43/mile. Lately, I go into these long runs feeling excited. Three quarters of the way through, I'm like "WTF am I thinking?! Why am I doing this again?! How am I going to be able to run more than this next week?!" When it's over, I'm always pleasantly surprised at the outcome. I went into today knowing it would be tough because I did my race pace run yesterday (part of good ole Hal Higdon's training theory). I wanted to quit after 8 miles and probably would have if Jackie and Theresa weren't there for me. Besides being tired from yesterday's run, we had wind the entire run! It was freaking insane. Did I mention the sleet?! Geez. Welcome to winter training.
  

  

  So.Much.Wind.

• 11/20: Leg circuit. I better be sore in the a.m. because my legs felt it.

 

Only three more weeks until my half marathon. What the crap?! Some may think my goal is a little lofty...and it might be for this course...but what's the point in a goal if it doesn't take a lot of hard work to attain? Word.