Half Marathon Training Week 1

Happy birthday TKO!!

I'm still not 100% on whether I'm going to run the Run to Remember Half Marathon in May. Part of me feels like I should just bite the bullet and sign up, but part of me feels so nervous and not at all ready. I would hate to sign up for the race and not run it (like I did with the BAA half in 2012). Last week was my first official week of "training" on my calendar. I'm going to see how things go the next few weeks, and then make a decision to sign up or not.

I'll share my full training plan at some point, but here are what my 7 days of the week will consist of:
- Short run (2-4 miles) w/ stretch/yoga
- Strength class
- Short run (2-4 miles) w/ strength
- Long run
- Cross training
- Optional rest/cross training/something active
- Rest

I'm going to do a weekly report of my workouts and do a tiny bit of reflection on each. So here we go!

Monday, 2/24
Cross training: 35 minutes elliptical, 15 minutes stationary bike

I got back from NY on Sunday and knew I had to get back to the gym immediately if I wanted to start the week off right. I had cross training on the calendar so I split it up between the elliptical and the bike. I would SO much rather do a class than machines for my cross training, but sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Tuesday, 2/25
Total Body Strength class: 60 minutes

I was excited to get back to this class since I missed a week, but it was REALLY tough. I barely made it through the 3 sets of push-ups and I had to take my weights down a bit on a few moves. It's crazy what taking a week and a half off of strength training does to me. Hopefully next week will be better.

Wednesday, 2/26
3 mile run/walk on treadmill: 45 minutes

Wow, this was a shitty night at the gym. I could barely run for 5 minutes and decided to turn my planned 2.5 mile run into a 3 mile walk/run. Sometimes you just have bad days.

Thursday 2/27
Rest

Friday, 2/28
2.5 mile run on treadmill: 28:45 minutes
Strength: 20 minutes, 2 sets of 10 reps each:

Dumbbell shoulder press
Squats
Push-ups
Donkey kicks, each side
Bicep curls
Lunges, each side
Tricep kick backs
Calf raises
Bent over rows
Plie squats
Front shoulder raise
Plank (30 seconds)

I had a really long, hard day at work so I'm surprised I even made it to the gym on Friday night. It definitely took a bit of negotiating with myself, but I'm so glad I went. I did 2.5 miles on the treadmill and sped it up a bit (I usually maintain a 12 min/mile pace and my average pace for this run was 11:30/mile). I ran the whole time and felt good and strong throughout. Afterwards I did about 20 minutes of strength work, going through 2 sets of 10 reps of each move. I finished up with a couple minutes of much needed stretching. It was a great workout!!

Saturday 3/1
Active Rest: I did a decent amount of walking and cleaning in my apartment. I was really tired after!

Sunday 3/2
I was supposed to do my first "long run" on Sunday but I didn't plan well around Tom's birthday celebrations. Wooops! More on that later.