Bayshore Half Marathon Training: Week 5

Previous training posts:

• Weeks 0-2
• Week 3
• Week 4

 Let's get right to it... this week was not so hot. Here is what is was supposed to look like:

Week 5 | Before.

Ha; totally didn't quite happen like that. This is what did:

Week 5 | After.

 Monday: As planned. I tried out my new bike trainer. I still need to figure out the whole resistance and gear thing, but it was a good 30 minutes. I did some random 30 second intervals to keep it interesting. After, I did this random Denise Austin pilates DVD... pilates is not my favorite.

Tuesday: Also as planned, I even decided to kick up the 400s to 8.4mph, I had been doing them at 8.3. It went well.

Wednesday: I went to a "Detox Yoga Flow" that I really enjoyed. It was 75 minutes and really hit some spots that I needed to stretch out. Then I went home and kept procrastinating the easy 4 miles I had planned. I generally like to run prior to yoga but it didn't happen so I was going to try for after. It got pretty late and then I ate dinner and then waited some and decided to finally go for it around 8:30pm. Not a good idea. I started getting a side cramp and was just not feeling the treadmill and decided to call it quites at 2 miles when I was at about 1.5 and by the time I got to 2 I didn't think I was even going to make it to 2 with the side cramp it was getting so bad.

Thursday: As planned. Don't remember much. On the treadmill. Did the first tempo mile at 7.3 and the second and third at 7.4.

Friday: I got home pretty late and did the whole dinner thing before I ran and decided it wasn't going to happen and I would make it up Saturday.

Saturday: I waited, as usual, and it was a lot later in the day than it should have been. I started getting a cramp again and got nervous about that, I was not feeling the treadmill at all, and overall my head was just not in the game. Physically it would have been fine. But I called it quits at halfway again. Partially to "save my legs" for the supposed 9 miles on Sunday.

Sunday: I decided to run errands and do some of those sorts of things in the morning and afternoon and by the time I got to the run I was just dreading it so much 9 miles was not happening. I stopped at 4.5 and knew I wasn't going to make it that much more on the treadmill. I compromised for 1.5 more miles at pace (meaning it was 3/1 GP) and called it a day. And said that this next week would be better.

All in all I got in two quality speed workouts and if I would have hit 9 miles on Sunday I would have deemed the week enough of a success. I also tried some different cardio which was nice to add to the week and plan to continue to do so. But not on Mondays, I like running on Monday to set the tone for the week, and leave the option of cross for later in the week if/when I want to.

So all in all here are the things I learned this week:

• I like starting my Monday out with a run. It sets me up for better running the rest of the week.
• I need to get my runs done earlier in the day.
• I am soo tired of the treadmill.

And here is what this coming week *should* look like:

Week 6 | Before.

I am moving the trainer to Wednesday and moved my long run to Saturday because of Easter, but I have been considering this change in general. The weather forecast is pretty good for Saturday so I hope it stays that way so I can go it outside which will be tremendously helpful. We shall see how it goes!