Half Marathon Training Plan: Week #11

[seventhe]

Week #11 was a serious workhorse week. It showed in my times and my heart rate - I worked a little too hard, and my pace was slow because of it. But I think it was a good thing overall; 3 weeks left of training should be enough to recover and hopefully I gained a lot from kicking my own ass.

	Tempo Run / Intervals	Long Run	Easy Recovery Run	total	target
Week #1	3.07 mi	5.4 mi	3.2 mi	11.67 mi	11 mi
Week #2	3.5 mi	4.85 mi	3.64 mi	12 mi	12 mi
Week #3	4 mi	6.6 mi	3.3 mi	13.9 mi	13.3 mi
Week #4	3.87 mi	7.5 mi	3.3 mi	14.67 mi	14.6 mi
Week #5	4.2 mi	8.9 mi	3.4 mi	16.5 mi	16 mi
Week #6	4.5 mi				REST
Week #7	5.5 mi	6 mi	4.8 mi	16.3 mi	16 mi
Week #8	4.1 mi	9.3 mi	4.5 mi	17.9 mi	18 mi
Week #9	3.1 mi	8.8 mi	3.4 mi	15.3 mi	15 mi
Week #10	6.5 mi	11 mi	4 mi	21.5 mi	20 mi
Week #11	4.3 mi	10.3 mi	5.7 mi	20.3 mi	22 mi

On Week #11:

• The 4.3 mile run was a hill run. It was a very rainy day and I had to run on the treadmill, so I did increasing hills over each mile, all the way up to 6%. 6% incline on a treadmill while running a 10:00-10:30 mile is pretty freaking hard. I was really sweaty and tired when this was over. I hated it, but I feel good about having done it because it was so hard.


• The 5.7 mi run was a 'negative split' run, where each mile is done faster than the last. I started off really pretty slow - still tired from the hills, and also this was an outdoor run on a course that has a lot of natural hills too - but each mile was about 15 seconds faster than the last one. The last 0.5 miles of this run was done super fast (for me!), up to an 8:00/mile pace. Exhausting.


• The 10 mile run sucked. I just worked too hard on other stuff this week, and also I had to bump it up a day because of Easter. It was terrible, I was slow, and it was really painful. The end.

Overall, I'm glad I did this week because I'm sure all of the gross work will make me a little bit better at some point. But it was probably a little bit too much to put into a single week - hills, more hills, negative splits on hills, and a long run. It shows in my times/pace too, which was pretty slow, and I think it's just because I overworked this week even though the mileage didn't climb as I had intended.

I'm in a lot of pain this week, too - my legs are hurting, sharp stabbing pains in a variety of really fun places, and I honestly think it's just me starting to find my body's natural limits. Again: usually in the past when I run it's my lungs that die first, so my legs are really unused to being pushed to their limits (because I can't get to their limits when I'm on the ground from an asthma attack). I've got pain in my quads and my calves and I'm stiff and groaning like I am very very old, and I'm icing and stretching everything like a good girl but I really think this is a week for recovery. Lots of miles, but nice easy ones.

This week:

• Recover from last week's grossness


• Easy, medium pace (~10:00 mile) 4-6 mile runs, x2


• Easy, slow pace 12 mile run


• Total mileage goal: 22-24 miles

Comments

[lindorie]

I've found that epsom salt baths (and ice baths, too, if you're feeling super brave) are incredibly helpful and MAGICAL! after a killer swim.

Damn, Sev, you on FIRE.

[salarta.livejournal.com]

Sorry for being ass and not knowing, but I keep wondering about this and not actually asking: what's this half-marathon you're running? If you feel like you can share. :)