IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #6

Woahhhhhh, we’re half way there… halfway through half marathon training. The humidity finally broke this week, and I’m feeling recharged. I still have a LOT of work to do in order to meet my goal for the half, but I’m slowly (POOR WORD CHOICE, MEL!) meeting some of my paces.

iowa running blogger summer humidity
Running in my new xx2i sunglasses that I won during #BibChat a couple weeks ago!

MONDAY
Rest Day — foam rolling routine before bed (and no, I still haven’t developed into a nightly habit).

TUESDAY
Strength Day! I focused on being really intentional with the workout, rather than rushing to complete it. I felt good and it was almost meditative (and I got to catch up on Bachelor in Paradise). I also worked on rolling my feet and calves before bed, since this is where I’ve been feeling some soreness lately.

WEDNESDAY
Took to the treadmill after work for my Easy Run — which seems like the first in a long while of getting negative splits. Each mile felt better than the last, and this is exactly the kind of confidence that I’ve been trying to build with these easy run days.

44:14, 4.02 miles
Splits: 11:17 / 11:06 / 10:54 / 10:45

iowa running blogger trail sidewalks end
Where the sidewalk ends… the hills begin.

THURSDAY
This was one of those days where I needed to push myself out the door to run something. My plan called for 45 minutes, but I was going to try for at least 30 minutes. My leg foot, left shin and left knee all felt ugly tight and sore for the start (and loosened up after the first mile). I went in a new direction outside and kept hitting trail sidewalks that went nowhere. But, SURPRISE: I started getting into my run — eventually going right past my house and completed another 15 minutes around my development. Total highlight of this run (besides Doing the Work!): That dang humidity is GONE. Finally.

45:36, 4.41 miles
Splits: 10:05 / 10:18 / 10:13 / 10:39

FRIDAY
Rest Day – hung out a bit with some neighbors after work, and then turned into bed early for Saturday’s early morning race.

SATURDAY
Five-mile race — read my recap of the Madrid Milers Labor Day Run!

iowa running blogger chocolate milk race day
A successful race calls for TWO chocolate milks!

SUNDAY
Sooooo, taking this whole non-labor Labor Day stuff to heart, I took an extra rest day. I was considerably lazy for most of the day, but I’m not guilty of it one bit. I’m planning on trail skating today, which replaces my early week rest day on the training plan — I haven’t had my skates on for almost 6 months, though. This should be fun.

Looking ahead: trying not to freak out about the two weekends of 10-milers in a row (10-mile long run scheduled this weekend, and a 10-mile race next weekend). I’ve been here before; I can do this! This current cut-back week was much-needed for recharging my mental space, and I feel like it fulfilled its purpose of re-motivating me, while also allowing for some actual physical rest.

WEEKLY RUNS: 3
WEEKLY MILES: 14.1 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 92.66 miles

TOTAL MILES FOR AUGUST: 69.88 miles

Real talk: The month that I ran my marathon last year, I ran a total of 73.89 miles, which included the marathon itself AND my 20-miler training run (which, HOW?!). August of 2015, I ran a total of 60.66 miles while training for a full marathon (there were a couple weeks where I only ran once a week!). My commitment to my training mileage has increased exponentially from over a year ago. But I’m still a little dumbfounded over how little training I did to run a full!