Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training: Week 15 Recap

Last week had some curveballs, personally and professionally, so running was not able to be at the top of the priority list.  I only logged runs 5 of the 7 days, and our weather has been CRAZY.  Temps the last three days were in the mid-90s.  So we celebrated the arrival of autumn by sweating like crazy. 

Monday, September 18
Plan says: Rest

What I do:  Rest.

Tuesday, September 19
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 3 x 2 miles at 10K pace (0.5 mile jog in-between), 1.5 miles cool down

What I do:  My son woke up at 5 just as my alarm was going off and insisted I lay with him.  Unfortunately this early morning rising behavior has been a consistent trend that is annoying to say the least when you are trying to get up and get out of the house before waking anyone up.  My morning workout was therefore shot.  Maybe I could leave work early and get some portion of this in before the bus arrives...

...except that I had been waiting to get in to my primary care doctor and they had an afternoon appointment so I took it.  Maybe I could switch up the plan and get some miles in on the treadmill after the kids are in bed...

...except by that point I was done in.  I went to bed at 8:15.

0 miles

Wednesday, September 20
Plan says: 7 mi tempo with 1.5 mile warm up & cool down

What I do: Wake up to my daughter's tapping at 4:30 AM.  Go with her and lay in her bed for a bit until she falls back asleep and then get dressed to do Tuesday's strength workout that did not get done.  I was anticipating it to be a typical cool fall morning and boy was I wrong.  The humidity as disgusting as I opened the door to outside.  And it was FOGGY.

Goal pace: 6:34 or 13:08 for 2 mi repeats.

1.55 mile warm up, 12:33 (8:05 avg pace)

2 miles, 13:13 (6:36 avg pace)  / 0.51 miles, 4:40.5 (9:12 avg pace)
2 miles, 13:01 (6:30 avg pace)  / 0.5 miles, 4:39.0 (9:15 avg pace)
2.01 miles, 13:01 (6:29 avg pace)

1.55 mile cool down, 13:07 (8:28 avg pace)

I was soaking wet by the time this was done, including my hair.  GROSS.  At times I felt like I was running through one of those rockstar smoke machines!

Thursday, September 21
Plan says: 6 miles easy

What I do: Unfortunately/Fortunately I woke up at 4 this morning because of...you guessed it, one of the kids and never fell back asleep.  This meant I was up and on the roads.  Again it was 83% humidity and 68 degrees.  AT 5 AM.  IN WISCONSIN.  In mid-September.  ?????  Easy 10K this morning.

6.2 miles, 51:19 (8:17 avg pace)

Friday, September 22
Plan says: 5 miles easy

What I do:  I ran after work and it was, no joke, 96 degrees and full sun outside.  I was miserable.  I was never so excited to see a school bus in my life.

3.55 miles, 27:51 (7:50 avg pace)

Saturday, September 23
Plan says: 10 miles long

What I do:  I got out early because it was going to be another scorcher.  I actually probably ran another 0.25 miles than what my Garmin logged because I stopped to quick change my iPod from podcast to song and, duh, forgot to restart my watch for a bit.  I was excited to see that my fastest pace during this run was 6:44.

10.06 miles, 1:17:06 (7:40 avg pace)

Sunday, September 24
Plan says: 5 miles easy

What I do:  Set my alarm for another early morning to beat the heat.  I bought new running shoes on Saturday afternoon that I was excited to test out so I ran the first part of this in my new Hoka Cliftons, leaving my Asics on the porch to change into for the second part.

3.25 miles, 26:52 (8:16 avg pace) - Hokas
3.75 miles, 30:17 (8:04 avg pace) - Asics

Total - 7 miles

Plan Miles: 46
Total Weekly Miles: 36.94 (womp womp)

THREE MORE WEEKS UNTIL RACE DAY! (Let's hope the weather cools down a ton before then!)