13.1 Miles: Training Week 8

This training week started a day late, since we didn’t get home from Philly and New York until Monday night.

Originally, I wanted to get right to it and make-up our 12 mile run the very next day.  Literally – on my way out the door – I got a message from a friend and fellow half-marathoner via Twitter, and he advised me to save the long run for the weekend and stick to my 4-6-4-12 plan.  (Thanks Mike!) I saw his point, but my stubbornness had me set out to run at least 6 miles and ended up completing 7.

Afterwards, I foam rolled my little heart out and knew this week was going to be a challenge.

Day 29

Tuesday: February 14, 2012

After slacking in Training Week 7, I was ready to get outside and run. Such perfect weather for it, too.

Oh, and Happy Valentines Day! Besides completing our run, Scott and I spent majority of the day catching up on e-mails, cleaning, doing laundry and eventually decided to see a movie.

The Vow was excellent, by the way. 🙂

Miles: 7

Time: 1:01:43

Speed: 6.8mil/hour

Pace: 8:49min/mi

Post-Run Meal:

After a good run, I was hungry for veggies!  I made a wrap using a whole wheat tortilla, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, black olives and a cut up Morning Star Farms Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burger.  I was also craving tomatoes, so I sliced up the rest along with cucumbers and topped them both with Morton’s Nature’s Seasoning.  No other dressings required. 🙂

Day 30

Wednesday: February 15, 2012

I couldn’t tell if I was sore from the previous day’s 7 miler, still sore from yoga in New York, or if it was a mix of both of those things.  I had never run 7 miles two days in a row, but it really felt great.  Scott and I did the same path as the day before, only reversed it.

Sometimes it’s the little things.

Miles: 7

Time: 1:03:13

Speed: 6.6mil/hour

Pace: 9:02min/mi

Post-Run Meal:

We were running out of food to pull from the fridge, so I improvised.  Scott doesn’t really like whole wheat noodles, so I compromised making our pasta half regular angel hair pasta and half whole wheat noodles (since they were just about the same cooking time).

For sauce I used Newman’s Own Marinara with Mushroom, then added diced green peppers, black olives and a Morning Star Farms Grillers Prime Veggie Burger.  That’s the first time I used a veggie burger, but like I said I was running out of choices – especially in the meat category.  Surprisingly, it was really good and just filling enough.

Day 31

Thursday: February 16, 2012

Since we missed a huge run last week, I wanted to really challenge myself for my 4-miler this week.  Mike (from Twitter) suggested I shoot for an 8:15 pace for each mile and take a :30 second break between each one.  I knew I could do this, so I challenged myself further by aiming for a pace between 8:00 and 8:15.

I felt great at first, but after the first 2 miles, my legs started getting heavier and heavier.  Running 3 days in a row (and barre on Thursday mornings) is not easy!

Whew!

Miles: 4

Time: 32:32

Speed: 7.4 mil/hour

Pace: 8:08 min/mi

Post-Run Meal:

After the run, I wanted something in my belly right away.  Our beloved Magic Bullet blender broke a few months ago, and we have yet to purchase a new mini-blender.  I’ve tried hinting several times with no avail…hey, cough, maybe for my birthday, Mr. Hesington?…cough.

Regardless, I got creative and decided to hand mix a protein drink by mixing 1 scoop of Bluebonnet Whey Protein Isolate Powder into a tall glass of skim milk.

Not too shabby… I loved the taste and didn’t need to jazz it up with anything.  (Success!)

While downing the drink, Scott and I both heated up one of our favorite go-to on-the-go meals: Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers.  I don’t like to microwave entire meals very often, but when I must, I turn to steamers and have never been disappointed.

Here’s one of my latest favorites: Grilled Vegetables Mediterranean with Rice.

Day 32

Sunday: February 19, 2012

Since my friend Meggan stayed with us this weekend, we waited to do our long run on Sunday after she left.  She was feeling a little bit under the weather while she was here, so we had a pretty lazy Saturday before going out for dinner.

By the way, have you tried Sabra hummus? My favorite flavor is roasted red pepper, but I would buy all of them…it’s definitely my favorite brand to buy.

On to Sunday and the run:

I mentioned that my training is a little different this week, trying to even everything out from traveling.  Instead of doing the recommended 9 miles this week, I wanted to make up the 12 miles we missed.

Scott and I split a pack of Strawberry GU Chomps and hit the road for a sunset run.

I also brought an Espresso Love GU Gel with me, but unfortunately never got to try it.

You see… my stomach thought the 4 GU Chomps were enough GU for me.  With an unfortunate side effect, I had to make a quick pit stop at a CVS around the 8 and a half mile mark.  My stomach was feeling very crampy during the entire run, so instead of taking the gel at the 6 mile mark (half way through), I held off.

Does anyone else have this problem? I can’t be the only one…

Besides that minor issue, the 12 miles wasn’t as bad as I thought! I’m excited we got through it at a decent pace and I now know I’m ready for the half.

Miles: 12

Time: 1:48:15

Speed: 6.6 mil/hour

Pace: 9:01min/mi

Post-Run Meal:

When we got in, I was so hungry I could have eaten my right arm.

Instead of doing that, I made the same whey protein drink as the previous day, except this time I added a few pinches of chia seeds and shook it all up in a water bottle.

That and a clementine held me over until I could make dinner.

Scott wanted macaroni & cheese, so I compromised with him by adding sides of fresh corn cut off the cob and an Al Fresco Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage.  Have you tried these?

I think you might need to!  The Sweet Apple flavor is my favorite, but I’ve tried a few others and they are also YUM.

What I’ve learned this week:

• If you have to miss training day runs, still save your long ones for the weekend.
• A great way to challenge yourself is to aim for speeding up your pace on low mile days, with a :30 rest in-between each mile.
• A serving of GU Chomps before a run are enough GU for me!
• Running 12 consecutive miles isn’t as scary as I once thought.

Goals for next week:

Concentrate on my pace, making it consistently around 8:50-9:10 per mile.

Enjoy the rest of this process!

Training Week 8 Playlist coming soon 🙂