Almost there

It's time to taper now. It feels like we have been training for this half marathon forever. Just like last time, I haven't been able to do the entire program. The long runs really tire me out. After the 18km lsd I felt really good, but sore. I was still sore for the speed workout, and knew that I shouldn't do it but in a clinic you get caught up in the group. It's hard not to feel like you're not keeping up when everyone else ran 18km on Sunday and is doing speedwork. I've been around long enough to understand that running is personal, but you still compare yourself to others.

Tuesday Feb 14: speedwork finished 5x400m(avge 2:12)
Wednesday Feb 15: weight training for about 30 mins
Saturday Feb 18: was supposed to 20km, but we cut it at 15km because of time and I wasn't feeling very well. Good pace though avge 8:01/km (race pace!!)
Tuesday Feb 21: speedwork finished 6x400m (avge 2:18)

I've got a cold and am just trying to get rid of it, so I'm taking it easy this week. 11 days to race day.

Riding in February???

Before I go on about training for the last couple of weeks, I want to start by saying; I took my bike out today!!! I had to get a picture since riding in February is pretty rare.

Training has been good.
Last Sunday Feb 4 - got a flat tire on the way so missed my 18km run. Came home and biked 50km in 90mins on stationary instead.

Monday Feb 5 - swam 1400m in 42 mins

Tuesday Feb 6 - first ever speedwork session. 6x400m. It went well, I was consistent and finished all of the reps quite a bit under the time given based on my goal of finishing the half in 2:50mins. The 400 repeats should have been at 2:45 but I did them in about 2:10.


Wednesday Feb 7- my legs were sore from the speedwork (felt good at the time, but not so good the next day) so I skipped running and did yoga. Felt much better afterwards.

Sunday Feb 12 - 18km lsd, felt really good today. Was getting tired at the end but felt good. The weather was so beautiful, I seized the opportunity to take my bike our for a few kms when I got home. I feel a lot better after the long runs this time around.

One thing I don't like about speedwork is, it builds expectations for finishing times. When everyone was training for OIM last year, I saw a lot of people lower their goal times based on their speed times. A lot of people ended up dissappointed on race day. The times I was running the 400m repeats means I should finish closer to 2:30 but my lsd times are nowhere near that. I like speedwork and want to keep working at it, but I'm not raising my expectations.

On the upswing

Ever since I switched my shoes-things have been much better.

Training this week:
Wed Jan 25th - Hills 6 was supposed to do 8 but I wanted to take it easy and make sure my legs are ok. I felt good though.

Saturday Jan 28th 10.5km - we did 1 loop of the hypothermic half course. I had a great run! Felt really strong and ran a decent pace (avge 7:58/km) finished in 1:22

Sunday Jan 29th ultra-conditioning dvd - felt really good. My butt and abs hurt after, but it didn't hurt as much as last time. I enjoy this workout.

Tuesday Jan 31st 4.6km - wasn't feeling good today but managed a good run today. We didn't run 10 and 1s and it's been a long time since I did that.

Wednesday Feb 1-too sick to do hills :(

I was sick last Tuesday but felt better the next day. This week it's come back again-upset stomach, but I feel worse. At this point I'm not sure what this means for this weekends workouts. I need to work on a regular schedule for the pool. I'm only getting there once every 2 weeks right now. Although with university and everything else maybe that's all I can manage until April.