End of Week 5 Half Marathon Training

Week 5 come and gone already?  Strange how the weeks are passing so quickly!  That means I only have 16 weeks to the day left until the race.  HOLY COW!!!  4 months exactly from today I'll be running my first half marathon.  ::shaking my head::  Nope...no, I can't think about it right now, too overwhelming.

So let's talk about my progress this week...or rather the lack thereof.  This was probably my worst week of running yet.  My training for this week was as follows:

Tuesday:  Run for 30 minutes
Thursday: Run for 30 minutes
Saturday: 5 mile long run

Okay, no biggie, I can get this done right?  Wrong!

Tuesday I was meeting up with some lovely local blogging ladies for "Fly by Night" at Flywheel Seattle.  It was my first time there and I was really nervous.  But that totally trumped the fact that I got to meet the lovely Stacie of Skipping In Seattle, Sarah of Sarah the Fit Foodie and meeting again the sweet Lauren of Marathon Lar.  These ladies go to Flywheel on a regular basis and were kind enough to let me tag along!  Fly by Night is a night class where there are two instructors "dueling" and they usually involve a theme.  Since this one was on 10/30, I'll give you two guesses what the theme was...and the first two guesses don't count!

Taken from Flywheel Seattle's Facebook page

It was so much fun and I was a sweaty mess afterward!  Thanks ladies for keeping me motivated and having a great time!

 Borrowed from Sarah's Instagram

Pictured: Rachel, Me, Lar, Sarah and Stacie

However since I knew I was going to be doing this ride, I decided to forego the run and use this as my training for the day.  Okay, no biggie.

Then Thursday rolled around.  I was going to run the last Road Runner Sports Adventure runs for the year, but as I was heading out the door that morning my running bag did not make it out with me.  Damn it.  Okay, no worries, I'll just run around home when I get off work.  So I got home and relaxed a bit (the week had been a bit of a doozy) and the time started passing before I'd realized, I never made it out the door.  I felt so bad and mad at myself for letting a run go without getting out there.

So I was determined to get out on Saturday for my long run and get my 5 miles.  I'd been invited to a local blogger meetup and I was finally going to meet some of the amazing women I've been reading/following along with their blogs for months, even a year.  Then I began reading the pace they were going to take the run at the meetup and got scared.  I can't run that fast and I didn't want to look like an idiot, so I chickened out and didn't go.  Maybe next time I'll get the courage to go out and run with these amazing women!

At the same time though my friend Danielle and her friend Erica were going to run Myrtle Edwards, so I joined in their run.  They were only going to do 4 miles, so I figured I would run an extra mile after they were done.  It was blissfully cool and not windy at all long the water, overcast and perfect for running.  We set off and found a good rhythm.  We talked about races and training and what we would be training for next.  It was really nice to have a couple of people to run with, the conversation was great!  We hit our turnaround point and headed back.  The funny thing is that the two miles back seemed a whole lot shorter than the two miles out.  Before we knew it, we were at the end of the four miles and I was feeling good, REALLY GOOD!  I said goodbye to the ladies and continued on with my last mile.  That was a blur to me, I don't even remember that extra mile, I was just trucking along lost in my mind.  Then before I knew it, I was back at my car!  

5 miles?  I STOMPED YOU!!! 

I felt AMAZING!  The run was easier and I felt like I could keep going even after I'd hit my 5 miles. I barely walked at all, we did a 9:1 sequence where you run 9 minutes and walk 1 minute.  It was great, the mileage seemed to fly by and I wasn't as fatigued as I usually am.  It's a HUGE difference from when I ran my last 10K and by mile 4 I was mostly walking with some running breaks.  It was the most amazing feeling and I'm in awe at what my body is able to accomplish.  This run is just fueling the fire for me to keep going and keep on with my training.  I see that it's working, I feel that it's working and I believe that in 16 weeks, I'll be ready for that race.

Tuesday better watch out because I'm gonna attack that run like nobody's business!!!