Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training: Week 8 Recap

Week 8 of half marathon training is in the books and after a few weeks of getting close, I finally crossed the 40 mile threshold, despite only logging 5 running days instead of 6.  I still struggle with motivation.  I also am dealing with a bit of fear that my goal pace is too much.  I think a lot of my motivation struggles are really just being afraid of the goal I set and not knowing if I can do it, especially after I struggled to run a 10K at the pace I want to run a half-marathon at.

Monday, July 31
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 x 1km at 5k/10k pace with 600 m recovery in between, 1.5 mile cool down

What I do:  I went to a concert with my mom on Sunday night and thus, went to bed late, slept like crap and did not plan to get up early to get this done in the morning.  I started this workout at 3:30 in the afternoon, it was 81 degrees and sunny.

For the most part, the heat did not bother me.  Put that in the win jar.  I incorrectly thought that 1km =0.63 miles so I technically did a bit over the 1K so I was pleased that my paces were below my goal pace for this workout (3:48 / 6:07 avg pace).

1.5 miles warm up, 12:05 (8:03 avg pace)

0.64 miles, 3:51.6 (6:04 avg pace) / 0.37 miles, 3:07.9 (8:24 avg pace)
0.63 miles, 3:48.8 (6:01) / 0.36 miles, 2:58.2 (8:09)
0.63 miles, 3:43.9 (5:55) / 0.37 miles, 3:08.6 (8:25)
0.63 miles, 3:47.4 (5:59) / 0.37 miles, 3:20.1 (8:59)
0.64 miles, 3:49.7 (6:00)

1.75 miles cool down, 15:09 (8:39 avg pace)

One of the big differences with the Hanson's Advanced half marathon training plan compared to the beginner marathon training plan is that the amount of speed work is larger in the advanced plan.  In the beginner marathon plan, I had 6 weeks of mileage building (re: NO speed work), followed by 6 weeks that included speed work, followed by 6 weeks of "strength" work (1, 1.5, 2, and 3 mi repeats). The speed work weeks started with 400m repeats and ended with mile repeats.  In this advanced plan, I have 9 weeks of speed work followed by 7 weeks of strength, so the speed work is done like a ladder, from 400m repeats up to mile repeats and back down to 400 m repeats.  Thus, I had to do 1Ks a few weeks ago, during week 5 of training.   I would say my pace was more consistent this time around and I recall the first session of 1Ks being a struggle.  I was pleased that I gained some consistency and this was not as difficult as the first time around AND I did them in much hotter weather this second time!

Tuesday, August 1
Plan says: 0 miles

What I do:  Rest.

Wednesday, August 2
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 5 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down

What I do:  Had to set the alarm for 4:45 for this one as I had an early morning meeting at the office.  UGH.  Even though this alarm is a mere 15 minutes earlier than my standard, why does it seem so much earlier?!  My sleep was terrible.  My son fell out of bed at 3 AM and I never fell back asleep after that so the good news was that I was ready to go for this run.  I grabbed my knuckle lights and ran the warm up in my neighborhood as well as the first 2 miles.  Then I ditched the lights and grabbed my water bottle to finish it out of my hood.  My goal for this was to ease into the tempo run and not start out mile 1 of tempo at full on pace.  It went well.  It was so humid already that morning so even though my pace was a little slow, I was satisfied.

1.5 mi warm up, 12:55 (8:36 avg pace)
5.0 mi tempo, 34:00 (6:48 avg pace)
1.5 mi cool down, 12:24 (8:16 avg pace)

Thursday, August 3
Plan says: 6 miles easy

What I do:  We were lucky to have our friends from Calgary staying with us Wednesday night so I stayed up late talking my friend's ear off.  My alarm went off at 5 and it was raining/storming so I shut it off and went back to sleep.  I left work early to get this run done and on my way home, it started downpouring.  So I thought, "I'll do it after the kids are in bed."  Then the kids were in bed and again, it was raining.  I was zonked by that time so I just threw in the towel.

Looking back, I'm annoyed that I just didn't hop on the treadmill.  After all, this is why I got a treadmill!

0 miles

Friday, August 4
Plan says: 6 miles easy

What I do:  My husband has a weekend in Northern WI every year with his college buddies and this was the weekend he was going to be gone.  SO I had planned on getting up super early and knocking my long run for the week out before he left. Except then 4:30 am came and I was like, ugh.  I finally peeled myself out of bed at 5:15 which meant I wasn't doing 12 miles before work.  I ended up with 6.4.

6.4 miles, 51:51, (8:06 avg pace)

Saturday, August 5
Plan says: 12 miles at long run pace (7:30-9:00)

What I do:  I had big ideas that I might be able to get up before my kids and get on the treadmill. Unfortunately, Friday night was sort of a cluster getting them to bed. I might have fallen asleep before my son.  They definitely woke me up in the morning so I stayed in bed snoozing in and out of consciousness while they watched TV.

I had big plans of taking them hiking a few times this summer and had yet to do anything about that so we loaded up and went to a nearby state park.  They did better than I was expecting!  We did lots of climbing.  Being there actually made me want to do more trail running.

It came time for bed and again, it was a shit show.  My son would not go the f*** to sleep.  It was 8:30 and I was tired and I was about to just skip running but then I was just like, no.  I let this bedtime situation infuriate me the night before, I was not going to do it again.  I changed into my running clothes and jumped on the treadmill.  It was slow and mentally so painful but I did it.  I logged 6 miles.  Best part was when I came back upstairs, everyone was asleep.  I drank some Nuun mixed with LaCroix, read my book and crashed.

6 miles, 53:15 (8:52 avg)

Sunday, August 6
Plan says: 5 miles easy

What I do:  My husband returned from his trip mid-afternoon so I was like, SEE YA!  I went to run my long run and really had no motivation for it.  I just kept saying one more mile and did a bunch of small loops (which mentally always helps me for some reason) and before I knew it, I had 12 miles in!

12 miles, 1:32:53 (7:44 avg pace)

Plan Miles: 45
Total Weekly Miles: 40.31