Sundays are for long runs

Weekly Therapy: Embrace the Taper!

- Mel

the week:
I’m finally Iowa official and got my new state driver’s license. I need it in this state to register to vote (we don’t have the 30-day deadline as I experienced in previous states, but we can vote early here), and frankly, seven months was long enough to procrastinate. It’s kinda sad to give up my last tie of being a Pennsylvania resident.

weekend:
RACE WEEKEND!!!! I’ll try my best to relax for the next couple days, as I pull together all of my race day preparations, including getting downtown to enjoy a little bit of the Expo. We have another Iowa game tailgate Saturday morning, so trying to also do fun things to ward off any race day nervousness.

seven things, seven days:
1. I’m running another marathon in 2017! — and registration is now open for the Vermont City Marathon. Save $5 on registration with discount code BibRaveDsct17.
2. Meal Planning worked out REALLY WELL for me this week, and the jar salads that I made for lunch kept me full through the remainder of my work day. Definitely making this a weekly habit!
3. Have you heard of Book of the Month? I got my first book — this is my kind of monthly subscription! [referral link] 4. Container Store is opening in West Des Moines. SOON. (all the exclamation points!!!)
5. FedEx does its deliveries at 8am… And when it’s WINE, it’s both hilarious and WTF. He laughed and told me that my breakfast was ready.
6. I really like this running-focused article on sports psychology at work: Train your brain to run your best {via Runner’s World} Thanks, Coach!
7. Training (and staying strong) for a running SEASON. {via Runner’s World}

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #7

- Mel

I had another week that I cut out my second easy run. While I at least fit in a short circuit workout, the weekend was just too busy. All things considered, I only took one rest day from being active — AND I did something new! — so I am still happy with this training week. My chat with my coach this week really helped me think a little bit about my mental game and my ability to push a little harder. It’s there, but I can’t let self-doubt win.

My goal for the week: Stay in the moment.

WEEK AT A GLANCE:

  • One strength workout
  • One circuit workout
  • One easy run
  • One speed workout
  • One long run
  • And one fun hour of trail-skating!
mel iowa blogger trail skating des moines
Skating the trails!

MONDAY
My scheduled rest day in my training plan, but I went down to Gray’s Lake and skated the trail to downtown. A nice 5-ish mile loop on a very sweaty day! Having not been on my skates in six months, it felt really good. Though I forgot how much I had to carry with me when I skate alone!

TUESDAY
My weekly strength workout.

WEDNESDAY
Pick-ups scheduled, and I was in that headspace where I wanted to flip my speed and easy days. But once I got my 10-minute warm-up done, I wanted to do the speed work. Because I didn’t have my watch set up for that, I forgot to hit the lap button on each interval AND they weren’t exactly on the minute mark – but I got it done!

And then when filling in my training plan spreadsheet, I realized that I forgot to do my core workout. Whoops!

All said and done, I completed just shy of 4 miles (3.93) in 43:00 minutes.

THURSDAY
Four miles easy run on the treadmill at 10:23 pace

Splits: 10:04 / 10:18 / 10:29 / 10:41

FRIDAY
Attended the Go Blog Social networking and happy hour events, as part of the fun conference weekend here in Des Moines. I’ll have a blog post up about the event this week! It was a very fun rest day. 😉

SATURDAY
Krave Fitness Gym, a fitness center in West Des Moines and one of the partners of the Go Blog Social conference, held a workout in the morning before breakfast. It was circuit-based, with a focus on body strength workouts and core. I was really happy – as a fitness blogger and active person – to have the organizers schedule a workout as part of the conference.

I spent all day at the conference, and then went to my first Iowa-Iowa State party. I had another easy run on the calendar for Saturday, but just couldn’t fit it in.

mel iowa blogger runner treadmill long run
A girl and her treadmill — 10 miles done!

SUNDAY
On Sundays, we do long runs!

Because I had exhausted all of my mental energy from socializing for two days straight and I was experiencing some digestive distress in the morning, I kept this one on the treadmill (sad cakes, as it was BEAUTIFUL weather). I was moving SLOOOOOWWWWW for an “easy” pace. My splits were pretty consistently in the 11:15-11:25 range (with one outlier at 11:45, woof).

The first of my back-to-back 10-miler weekends is complete, and I look forward to this weekend’s Capital Pursuit 10-miler Race!

WEEKLY RUNS: 3
WEEKLY MILES: 17.9 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 110.56 miles — I hit the century mark!