End of Week Two training

It is the end of Week Two of my half marathon training.  Really?  This is going by quicker than I thought!  I guess we'll have to wait and see if I have the same reaction around week 12 or 17, HA!

My training calls for Tuesday and Thursday timed runs and a Saturday long run for mileage.  My Tuesday run got scrapped because I was moving it a day back to do speed work and hills with my friend Danielle.  So I ran on Wednesday instead and had a great time!  

We went to Greenlake and ran sprinting intervals around the lake, sprint 1 minute and jog 4 minutes, repeat.  When we got to the South end of the lake, there is a hill by the tennis courts that we ran up and jogged down a couple of times, then continued the intervals around the lake.  It was tough, especially towards the end where it felt like the trail was regenerating and that this run was never going to end!  Regardless of that tidbit, the run was good and I felt great afterward.  We stopped at Greenlake Bar and Grill afterward to grab dinner, it was $5 Steak and Fries night.  I subbed the fries with veggies for a dollar extra and ordered a medium steak.  This was by far the smallest plate of food I've ever received in my life.  The steak was a perfect serving size, 5oz, but the veggies that came with it was a smaller portion than the steak!  That was totally bonk!  I'm not going to spend my money on that deal again, I'd rather go home and make a large plate of roasted veggies any night!  But I digress.

Then on Thursday I was going to do my run as scheduled, but work got in the way this week and I ended up staying late and then the hubby was coming home early (7pm as opposed to 10pm) so I wanted to spend time with him.  Needless to say, the run didn't happen.  Life got in the way and I'm bummed that I allowed that to happen so early into my training, but it did and I have to let it go.  That just means no money will go into the tip jar for that day.  Tip jar?  What am I talking about?  Well, that's for another post. :)

Saturday came and I was raring to go on a run, but the weather certainly was not.  Gloomy, rainy and wet all over.  Today would be my first test in mind over weather to get my run done.  I geared up in a long sleeve wicking shirt, capri's and compression socks so that I was warm enough (the wind was biting! SO COLD!).  Then wore my hat to keep the rain out of my face.  Let's see how this goes!  Well, luckily for my running buddy and me, the rain stopped long enough for our five mile run and one mile cool down walk around Lake Union.

Can I just say what a GREAT run that is!!  Some really great views and areas to run through, it was really pleasant!  We stopped to get a picture at Gasworks, the trees were AMAZINGLY beautiful!!!

 

I LOVE this time of year when the leaves change color and hearing the crunch of the leaves under your feet when you run.  Regardless of the cold and wind, this was a really enjoyable run.  I felt so strong at the end that I could have finished out the last mile of the trail, but my training doesn't call for that.  My schedule actually only calls for three miles, but I have a 10K race next week that I want to be prepared for, so 5 miles for this run it was!

Overall, the training is going well and I'm enjoying running more.  I'm going to try and get a speedwork day in every week along with my regularly scheduled runs, I really enjoyed that change of pace.  No pun intended, HA!  I know lots of people are in the middle, coming close to the end or just like me, starting their training schedule for some half or full marathon, so it's nice to know all of us are on some sort of journey together.  Helps to remind me that I'm not alone in my struggle to train!

Question for you:  How do you keep motivated to stick to your training schedule when life gets in the way?  Do you beat yourself up about it or chalk it up as a loss and let it go?