Getting Down to Business

Yesterday marked the first day of my last build block before the Nike Women's Half Marathon. While I've had my ups and downs with balancing training with school I'm ready to dive in head first and make these final weeks count. Now that the semester is around half way over (how did that happen?!) I feel like I've finally figured out a schedule that works for me.

Lucky for me, this week is my spring break. That means I have a whole heck of a lot more time to get in my workouts and not worry about making sure I have enough time to study. I don't have any plans for break other than going to a mountain bike race this weekend so I will be spending my week getting ahead on school work, catching up on sleep, and finally getting a chance to read a book. Yay for rest and relaxation, right?!

I came home yesterday late afternoon and was greeted my a nice dusting plus some falling snow. I love running when it's snowing so I quickly changed and headed out the door for a super short jaunt through the snow with my favorite running buddy. There is just something so peaceful and beautiful about running in the snow. Our run was nothing special. We stopped to munch on some snow a few times and one of us even rolled around in it for a few minutes.

Later yesterday evening I had a date with my trainer for some intervals. I would much prefer doing 10 minute interval over 5 minutes. Is that normal? Anyway, I had a really good workout despite my stomach hurting like a bitch. Hopefully it will calm down some and not cause any more problems this week.

Maybe it is the thought of spring being right around of the corner, being half way done my semester or the rest week last week but I am feeling more ready than ever to give this last training block everything I've got and really push myself. I have seen so much progress and I'm excited to start putting that to the test. Race day is six weeks away. Time to get down to business!

I've Been Having Some Good Runs Lately

The title says it all. Almost all of my runs over the past few weeks have been really enjoyable. I have had my fair share of crappy I hate everything about running runs though too. Because of all the good runs I have been having lately I have really fallen in love with running. Instead of thinking when do I have to run I now think when do I get to run. I'm pretty sure all of my awesome runs lately are due to following a smart training plan that includes lots of cross training. More on my training plan sometime this week.

12 miles total {3 miles warm up, 6 miles @ HMGP, 3 miles warm down}

Friday evening I set out to do my longest training run yet. I didn't do a hard run last week because I wanted to rest a little after the triathlon, so I added some tempo work into my long run. As the runs get longer I will be slowing down tremendously. I also wanted to use this run to get a sense of where I am at for my half marathon in two weeks.

The first three miles were pretty hot but after that it was really nice out. I wasn't sure how hard HMGP would feel but was pleasantly surprised with how easy it felt. It was by no means easy but I was expecting it to be much harder. I had some GI issues during the last mile at HMGP and ran out of water so I decided to drive home and finish my warm down where my house was never far away. I didn't want to break the run up like that but it was only a 10 minute break.

2 miles trail run/walk with Gracie

On Saturday I met my boyfriend at a local lake that has some beautiful trails. He was going mountain biking so I decided to hit the trails by foot instead. I knew I didn't want to go for long after Friday's run. The trails are really hilly so I walked the steep uphills and ran the rest. I love running on the trails and wish I got out there more this summer. There is a huge state park about 10 minutes from my apartment with hundreds of miles of trails that I am planning on taking advantage of now that I'm back at school. If only I could bring this adorable face with me.

5 miles track {1 mile warm up, 5x 400 sprint-800 recovery, 400 warm down}

I had a minor injury scare over the weekend so I cut my track run down to 5 miles from 7, and reduced the actual amount of hard running during the workout. If anything hurt during the run I was going to stop. Luckily nothing hurt though. I have expressed before how much I love doing track workouts and I think part of the reason is that it may be the best way to measure progress week to week. At least in terms of speed.

1:32, 1:32, 1:33, 1:34, 1:28

I don't know if it was the cool, rainy weather, the sort of rest week last week or what but my legs came ready to run fast today. Normally those splits would be the fastest interval of my run and a number that I would see only once. Based on the last one I wish I would have pushed myself harder on the middle ones but at least I gave it my all on that last one. After seeing my first few splits my goal was to break 1:30. When I saw 1:28 pop up I almost started crying. I never in a million years thought I could do any sort of running at that kind of pace. It all makes me very excited for what's to come.

Back To It

I am so happy to be feeling better. All week I felt weak and had no motivation to do anything at all. It was so nice to wake up this morning craving to go for a run. I have still been having stomach issues with running so I ate a little snack and waited a few hours before heading out.

I don't normally run with music but I really wanted to today. Unfortunately my ipod was dead and my charger is at my apartment (I'm at my parents house until spring semester starts). Instead I decided to run with Gracie. I figured it would be nice to have some company and she could use the exercise.

Since I hadn't run in over a week I wanted to just go easy to get back into the swing of things. We ended up averaging 9:46, which wasn't too bad. It was definitely a colder run than either of us are used to but it still felt really nice being outside.

I think I am crazy but I really wish it would snow. Normally we get one or two good snows a winter plus a few small snows. So far we have only gotten that random storm in the end of October but that just doesn't count to me.

Running With A Dog

I love coming home for breaks and getting to see my puppy. I hate that I can't take her to school with me but I am not allowed to have pets in my apartment and there isn't room for her anyway.

I was so excited to see her on Monday. I love taking her for walks and playing with her favorite toys. She loves going to the dog park where she can run all she wants with tons of other dogs.

On Tuesday as I was heading out for my easy 3 mile run, I decided to bring Gracie along with me. I have never tried running with her because she gets distracted so easily but I figured it was worth a try.

When we first started out she wanted me to run at her pace, which just wasn't happening. This dog has outrun every other dog she has encountered. We finally settled into a nice 9:45 pace though and were on our way.

It was so nice running with her. I don't really like running with other people but having Gracie there with me made me feel less alone but I didn't have to talk with her. She did her own thing and I did mine.

It was very comforting having her there with me and I definitely will be taking her on many more runs with me. I want to try both longer distances with her as well as some faster runs. She is a runner so I know she can handle it. It's just a matter of whether I can keep up with her