Half-Marathon Training: Week 6

I did it! I ran my second half marathon, and I can’t wait to share the details in an upcoming recap with you!

While I am waiting to receive my photos from the race, I can go ahead and share my final week of training with you, including a few sneak peeks of what race day looked like!

The week before a long distance race usually doesn’t require a crazy amount of miles to log in. I incorporated two three miles runs, a strength training day, and a long walk before the weekend into my plan. While I had every intention of completing all of them, life happened and I didn’t.

It all worked out just fine. Here are the details!

Interested in how I got to Week 6?

• Half-Marathon Training Recap: Week 1

• Half-Marathon Training Recap: Week 2

• Half-Marathon Training Recap: Week 3

• Half-Marathon Training Recap: Week 4

• Half-Marathon Training Recap: Week 5

Half-Marathon Training: Week 6 Recap

Please keep in mind that this is a six week half-marathon training plan I came up with on my own, specifically catered to what works best for me. Feel free to take a look in the archives for my first half-marathon training plan (you will find the section under the Fitness Page) that lasted a duration of ten weeks if you are looking for something closer to a beginner level.

The plan…

What I did (Week 6: October 13 – 19, 2014)

• Monday – REST

I wanted to get out there and knock out the three miles, but since my CPT test was the next day, I decided to spend every moment I could studying.

• Tuesday –  REST

As you can imagine, I dedicated my entire morning studying for the test too! I passed, so I guess it was worth it!

I planned to go for my run or even complete a run and workout later that night, but by the time I got home it started raining. I just wasn’t feeling it, and besides, I had some serious celebrating to do. Woo hoo!

• Wednesday –  3 miles + strength training

I knew I needed to get to my run in on Wednesday.

It was my last scheduled training run before my race day, and I also wanted to make up my strength training workout.

I grabbed Roadie for 3 miles around the neighborhood and we had a great run!

He’s been a little better at not stopping every two seconds to sniff everything. I’m very thankful and excited about that.

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 28:28 mins.

Pace: 9:29 min./mile

After a good ten minutes of rest and stretching, I went down to the basement and put together a dumbbell strength workout.

It alternated between upper and lower body exercises and Roadie kept me company the entire time.

He’s seriously the best!

Recovery:

After a shower, I turned to the pantry for inspiration and figured it wouldn’t hurt to start carb loading for the race.

I went with penne veggie noodles topped in marinara sauce with spinach and shrimp for protein.

• Thursday –  REST

I always take Roadie for long walks in the afternoon, but didn’t record anything for training purposes. I’m sure one of them equaled a mile or two.

• Friday –  REST

Same as Thursday, workout wise.

• Saturday –  REST

I’m pretty sure I walked enough around the Henry Ford Museum and Downtown Detroit to cover that 30 minute walk I was supposed to do Thursday.

• Sunday –  Half Marathon

Sunday was race day!

I couldn’t believe the day finally came. I was ready for it!

I plan to share a more detailed recap once I get some of the race photos back, but for now here are a few sneak peeks.

(Yes, I am apparently “raising the roof” on my way to the finish line…)

(Embarrassing.)

We did it!

I am so proud of my best friend, Alex! She has been battling an extremely tight and most likely injured IT band for the last couple of weeks and could barely get through the last two long distance training runs.

Going into the race, my goal was for us to cross the finish line together!

I could tell she was hurting pretty bad around the three mile mark. The trainer in me wanted to tell her to stop, but the friend in me pushed her to keep going. I knew she would be really upset with herself if she stopped. We went a lot slower than both of us planned, but we did it. And that’s all that matters to me!

Distance: 13.1 miles

Time: 2:22:47 mins.

Pace: 10:53 min./mile

That said, this half was so much easier for me to get through than my first one. I literally felt like I could run another couple miles when we were done, which was not the case my first go around.

I currently have the itch to race the half distance again and am on the lookout for one coming to my area sooner than later.

Recovery:

After the race, the boys treated us to brunch at a new-to-us and well-known restaurant in Ferndale: The Fly Trap.

It’s a tiny space, but a very popular breakfast spot in the greater Detroit area. Their waiting area is actually out the door to the outside, so we figured it has to be good for people to brave the cold to keep it in business after the last winter we had!

I was happy to get inside to see what was on their “blunch” menu, as they like to call it.

I ordred the B.L.A.T. + C. omelet that came with a side of breakfast potatoes and wheat toast with the jam of the day.

You can’t see what was inside of it (pepper bacon, spinach, avocado, tomato and cheddar), but the omelet was so good!

Scott ordered the gingerbread waffle and I gladly helped myself to a few bites of that as well. We will definitely return!

Week 6 Thoughts

As I mentioned above, I created the training plan you see at the top of this post for my second half marathon based on what I thought I could do and what I thought my body could handle in a short amount of time. I only trained for six weeks for this race, but I felt one hundred percent ready for it when I finished my training.

It is important to remember, however, that I formed this plan knowing I could complete six consecutive miles (or roughly a 10K) prior to training.

Now that I have run two half marathons, I have the desire to run more!

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on any future races I sign up for.

Thank you for following my training journey!

***

Question of the Afternoon

• What is your favorite race distance to run?

I used to say 5Ks. They’re short and sweet and I can really push myself to run for time. I am planning to run an upcoming 10K, but I have only run one prior to that. I remember liking that distance as well. After this weekend, I might have a new found love for halfs… if I’m trained, however. 

Coming off of the race, I hope to keep up my mileage better than I did after my first half. My goal is to at least run 8 or 10 miles every couple of weeks so I don’t have to start my training from the beginning again!