Week 2 of training is officially done, 8 more to go!
I almost feel like weeks 1 and 2 were more like “pre-training.” Long runs of 5 and 6 miles are barely “long” enough to make training feel legit to me. A 7 miler planned for later today though finally makes it start to feel real. I don’t just randomly run 7 miles unless I’ve got a reason!
Here’s what the plan looked like for week 2:
And here’s what went down:
Besides a switch up of my rest day, all went according to plan.
Monday:
Unlike week 1’s long run this one felt much easier. I started off slowly, didn’t take any breaks besides a quick stop to get the bug that flew directly into my eyeball out and finished with a 8:53 pace overall. Some random guy on a bike flew past me (scaring the crap out of me since I had my headphones on and didn’t hear him) around mile 4.5 and yelled back “looking great!” I have no idea if he was being serious or sarcastic but it kept me motivated nonetheless.
Tuesday:
I started NROLFW stage 3A and OH MY GOD my legs! Let’s just say that ending an already tough workout with 2 “body matrix” intervals of squats, lunges, and jumping squats & lunges makes it difficult to move the next couple of days. It was like Jillian Michaels in 30 day shred on steroids.
Wednesday:
How I even made my legs bike 15+ miles after NROLFW the previous day, I don’t know. Somehow I did it though and maintained a pretty good 14.4 mph on baby blue.
Thursday:
Mind wanted to run, legs did not. Ended up switching my rest day to give them one more day to recuperate.
Friday:
A wet tempo run on fresh legs.
The best part about running in the rain? Having the bike trail to myself. I passed one other runner and we both head nodded like “yeah, you must be training too otherwise you wouldn’t be out here.”
Saturday:
An 11+ mile bike ride with about a million dead bugs caught on my shirt, in my eyes and in my mouth. I might wear Ulysses’ motorcycle helmet next time because swallowing bugs is really getting old. After the bike ride I made my way to the basement for NROLFW 3B. This workout was way more arms oriented than Tuesday’s. Thank the good Lord.
Sunday:
3M pace run. My initial goal for these runs was to average 8:20-8:25 miles. I’m finding it very hard to maintain that pace though. My body either does 8:45 or 8:00. My average pace this run was 7:59. I need to work on slowing down a bit because there’s no point in running that fast, I definitely can’t maintain it for 13.1 miles.
Total Weekly Round-up
- Run: 13.5 miles
- Bike: 26.6 miles
- Strength training sessions: 2
On to week 3!
What did you do this weekend?
What distance do you consider a “long” run? I think half training warped my mind last year because now I’d say 7 but last year probably would’ve said 5. It’s all relative I guess!
Philadelphia half marathon training
Monday 10th of October 2011
[...] Philly half training: week 2 [...]
Kat @ living like the kings
Tuesday 27th of September 2011
that is so impressive. I have no idea how you do it. I really don't.
Alexandros
Tuesday 27th of September 2011
Well done so far... Keep running and writing about it. It's inspiring 4 all of us, that are training for a race...
Baking Serendipity
Monday 26th of September 2011
I'm just starting in on half marathon training too. Your run in the rain sounds awesome to me! :)
Jess
Monday 26th of September 2011
I totally think half marathon training warps the mind as it relates to definitions of a "long" run. Prior to my last round of half training (which is now intermingled with a continuation of half training now), I'd say "long" was maybe 6 miles? Now I'd say 8 or 9 is "long." Last year? I'd say 5 miles was "long." So funny how perspective changes over time huh? Great job on your training!