Week 2 of Half Marathon Training (12.10-12.16)

Previous Summaries

Planned Mileage: 2, 4, 2, 8 (for a total of 16 miles) and the 2 different Hal Higdon training plans say 15 and 20 miles.

Monday: I ran 2.33 miles. I set out to run 2 miles but my 2 mile loop is actually a tad over. I almost did 3 but knew it'd be too dark by that time.  It was pretty good timing too.

Originally I thought I'd run at 9:30 pace but then changed it. I wanted to go a bit slower since I haven't run in awhile and my thigh was bothering me last week.

I got faster each mile. It felt easier as I was running too. I think I was just too rusty from taking over a week off from running.  I notice that when I get close to my apartment on my way home, I tend to speed it up. I used to do the same thing at North Park when I was running. Or I guess anywhere that I ran fairly often as soon as I was close to done I'd always pick up the pace.

Tuesday and Wednesday:  Rest (I was a lazy bum.) Wednesday  I didn't even get out of bed until 4:30 besides around 2 when Dave texts me and tells me to get on chat so I had to get up and get my laptop. I went to the bathroom at that point and got back in bed with my laptop. I wasn't sick or anything. I was just busy playing games on my iPad.

Thursday: I set out to run another 2 miles since Friday and Sunday I'd be running with Hilary and doing my long run and speed work for the week. I did the same exact course as Monday but with a different goal in mind.

I tried to run the last .33 the fastest and that would have put me at an 8:24 pace so it was my fastest. I guess sometimes my goals actually do pay off.

My goal was 9:20 pace but really each of my .25 splits I did not want slower than 2:20 and I actually made it every split. I'm pretty proud of that. Usually I hit the overall pace but then have a split here or that there is 5 seconds too slow.

I wore long sleeves but ended up pushing up my sleeves.

I also took 2 different walks to go to different grocery stores.

Friday: I went running with Hilary. We were debating our long run or speedwork. It was extra cold but we looked at the forecast and it was supposed to rain too. We didn't want to get stuck miles from the car in 40 degree rain so we went with speed workout. We were both scared of it. Neither of us has been running any sort of distance. I haven't done a speed workout in months and Hilary never did.  We decided to go with 3 half mile repeats with a recovery quarter mile in between. Then add on a mile warmup and cooldown.

We slowed down our first mile a lot from how we normally run but it was still faster than I wanted. I wanted slower than a 10 minute pace.  We were really booking it the first 800 but since we hadn't run fast in so long, I thought by the end of the half mile we'd have slowed down and then hit our goal. We beat it by so much that we were so dead for the rest of the workout. Or at least I was dead.  I was definitely dead after the second repeat. I was really trying to slow the recovery jog so I could maybe possibly handle the last repeat. If it weren't for the bridge where I swear we lost distance than what we actually ran, I'd say we got worse each time based on the data. In reality both the second and third repeats had the weird switch backs to bridges so I'd say we met our goal on those just based on feel and the data I was seeing on the watch up to that point.

We went to 2.1 instead of 2.0 to turnaround so we didn't have to transition from run to jog on the bridge we hate. So then we ran a little over 4 and had a longer cooldown. I don't mind the extra tenths here and there. They all help my miles add up for the year.

My training plan suggested mile repeats at 8:36 pace. I don't think I could handle that. My guess is I would have hit the first one but been too slow on the second one.  Week 6 is my next mile repeat at 8:29 pace. I don't think I can do that but we shall see.
Scrap and Run
I figured I got weak so I wore pants, tank top, long sleeve shirt, and gloves.  A couple miles in, I took off the gloves. Then later I pushed up my sleeves.  Three miles in, I took off my long sleeve shirt and just ran in the tank top.  I was going to wear capris and I could have gotten away with them but the pants weren't all bad. Plus I have 5 pairs of workout pants that I love that don't get any use around here.

My legs felt tired near the end of the run and after the run. I hadn't run straight through that far in a long time. I did 5.16 on October 21 but still walked .5 of that and we started walking 3.75 into it.  So the official last time I ran 4 continuous miles was September 7 and interestingly enough I ran mile repeats that day.  I can't believe it's been that long. Wow. I'm a big slacker.

A couple hours after the run, I did a 22 minute weight routine. It was far too cold in the gym so I only did 1 set of a few things and got out of there.  My hands were frozen.  The thermostat said 51 degrees.

Saturday: I didn't workout. My plantar fasciitis is really acting up. My arches are so swollen. Every step hurts. I did shop for about 3 hours so I guess all that walking around was exercise.

Sunday: Dave and I walked to Target, shopped, and walked back. I walked to Safeway. Dave and I walked to dinner.  I guess all that walking was exercise.

Total Mileage: 8.85 mi
Total other things: 1 weight routine, 6 walks (maybe more)

Summary: My repeat of Week 2 couldn't have been worse than the first week so I could only improve.  It turned out a lot better than I expected. I probably should register for the race.  I would have done better than projected if I did my long run. It was so cold and my plantar fasciitis is so bad that I thought it was better to take Sunday off than to run and then have my feet hurt even longer.  Even just sitting here my feet hurt.