Half Marathon Training/Phase One: Week Eight

The week previous I had to do my long run on Sunday instead of Saturday because of thunderstorms. You have to be dedicated but also sometimes flexible with your training plans and the long run on Sunday did a number on my Monday run. It was a rainy morning so I hit the treadmill instead of the road and it didn’t take but a minute for me to realize my legs were not ready for a run. They felt like jello! I hoped things would get better after a few minutes but it didn’t. Twenty minute in, I decided to hang it up for the day. Also, later in the day my legs were sore. That doesn’t happen often and the soreness stayed around for a few days.

Wednesday and Thursday’s speed work on the treadmill was a little longer/harder and I didn’t mind it as much this week. And yes, I didn’t oversleep on Thursday and actually got my training in on the scheduled day! Chilly weather returned by Saturday’s long run. I didn’t get out until around 11 in the morning so it wasn’t too bad. Low to mid-fifties outside but it was windy! It felt pretty good when you were in the sunlight and no wind blowing but in the shade and/or windy and you sure could tell the difference. Dreaded getting out there but once I got going I really enjoyed it. I just concentrated on my foot cadence and let the wind and terrain dictate my stride. Kept things slow with controlled breathing all the way. My heart rate averaged 133 BPM. On flat terrain that might be a little high but I don’t have much flat terrain.

My weekly mileage was down slightly since my run was cut short on Monday. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the progress made this week.

Here’s the breakdown for the week:

Monday: Ran 20 minutes on the treadmill.
Wednesday: 14 minute race pace/2 minute walk/14 minute race pace.
Thursday: 9 minute run/1.5 minute fast + 2 minute walk (x4)/9 minute run.
Sunday: Ran 8.18 miles at a 12.32 pace.

Approximately 16 miles for the week.

 

Half Marathon Training/Phase One: Week Seven

Another rock steady week of training! I don’t know what’s up with Thursday morning though. I overslept and missed Thursday’s training  and had to make it up on Friday. That’s two weeks in a row that I’ve done that. Weather was great again here in Georgia–except some very strong thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday. I had to postpone Saturday’s long run but thankfully I got it in on Sunday between the thunderstorms.

Monday’s run was great! I didn’t have to work that day because of MLK Day. Weather was awesome and I felt great. I don’t know what happened on my last mile. I think I started daydreaming and it took me 12:18 to finish it. And that’s after realizing I slowed down and I kicked it in on the last third of a mile. Wednesday and Friday’s speed work on the treadmill went well and I’m starting to get used to running on a treadmill again. It’s really boring to me but it’s getting better. On Sunday I didn’t have a speed or distance in mind. Instead the goal was to run at least 90 minutes. I clocked in a little over 99 minutes. This is my longest run since July 30th. The only reason I remember this is because it was my birthday.

Here’s the breakdown for the week:

Monday: Ran 3.94 miles at a 11:56 pace.
Wednesday: 12 minute race pace/2 minute walk/12 minute race pace.
Friday: 7 minute run/1.5 minute fast + 3 minute walk (x4)/7 minute run.
Sunday: Ran 7.45 miles at a 13:21 pace. (Killer hills this week!)

Approximately 17 miles for the week.

Slowly taking off the pounds as well. I’ve lost about seven pounds since the first of the year. Yeah me!

100 Days Until St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Half Marathon

Knowing the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Half Marathon is only 100 days away gives me a sense of urgency to get ready. At least when I first got the reminder in my emails today. But really 100 days is plenty of time to get physically ready.

If fact, I’m feeling pretty good about it right now. I had a shakey month of December and started the year with a cold/bronchitis/virus but I’m over all of that now. Training went well last week and so far this week it has been even better.

I do have a sense of urgency about something else related to this half marathon though. And that is hitting my newest goal of raising $2620 for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Thanks to so many generous friends I’ve raised $1740 so far but I know the remainder may be a little harder to get.

To my knowledge no one in my family has directly benefitted from St. Jude but I do appreciate the indirect benefit of St. Jude. My granddaughter was born with hydrocephalus and spent quite a bit of time at Riley’s Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. I’m happy to say my granddaughter is a now a middle school student doing just fine. I know without the special skills and care that hospitals like St. Jude this might not be the case.

Won’t you help? Whether it’s $5 or $500, every little bit helps. Please. Help me help St. Jude. You can donate to my cause by visiting a special website, http://heroes.stjude.org/rickhannon

Don’t wait a 100 days to donate. Please donate today.

Half Marathon Training/Phase One: Week Six

Week six went much better. I got four runs in and physically feeling good again. Still running slower than crap but I’m starting to see some improvement there too.

Monday morning’s 4:30 a.m. was chilly! It was just below the freezing mark when I started and it dropped another degree by the time I finished. By Wednesday things really warmed up but it didn’t really matter since both Wednesday and Thursday’s runs are on a treadmill so I can work on my speed. I forgot to set my alarm on Thursday so I had to make it up on Friday. Saturday was my long run day and I got in 6.2 miles. It was in low fifties temperature wise and I debated on wearing gloves. I didn’t but it didn’t take long for me to wish I had. This is the first run were I’ve hit six miles since December 3rd. It probably would have been a little longer than 6.2 miles but I had to cut off a section of my route so I could find a covered area to go poop! Is that TMI? Probably but if you’re a runner I’m sure you’ve been there, done that. Let me add that I didn’t have TP so I’m glad I had a lot of tall thick grass all around me. HAHA!

Here’s the breakdown for the week:

Monday: Ran 3.4 miles at a 11:55 pace.
Wednesday: 12 minute race pace/2 minute walk/12 minute race pace.
Friday: 5 minute run/1 minute fast + 2 minute walk (x6)/5 minute run.
Saturday: Ran 6.23 miles at a 12:59 pace.

Approximately 15 miles for the week.

I said I’m running slower than crap right? So what is race pace for me right now? Probably slower than 11:30 per mile but that’s what I’m sticking with for now. If you’ve read my blog for a while you probably know I’m more concerned about staying injury free over running fast. I’m sixty years old now and while there are runners my age quite a bit faster I’m OK with it. There will always be someone faster. I’m still out there doing it injury free.

Also, I lost at least a pound this week!

Half Marathon Training/Phase One: Week Five

Week five of my half marathon training is complete but I’m afraid there’s not much to report. It was Wednesday before I felt up to running again after the cold or what I believe was bronchitis. My run on Wednesday was short and slow. I didn’t want to push it much and honestly, my lungs hurt the whole way.

Friday I ran again for a distance just short of four miles. Again, a nice slow pace. I coughed and hacked quite a bit the first mile but by the time I finished my lungs felt pretty good. I noticed on both run days my heart rate was higher than usually. Not high enough to be alarmed but higher than it normally would be for the amount of effort.

With the holiday travel and illness I’ve decided to backtrack on my training plan. Even though I’m starting week six of my plan I’m going to go back to week three’s plan and work up from there. I may accelerate the weekly progress a little. At least on the long run day anyway. This week I’ll just go by my week three plan and see how that goes first.

One good thing from this week: I lost about four pounds!

50 Days Until the Augusta University Half

Received this reminder in my e-mail this morning. YIKES! The AU Half Marathon will be here in 50 days. With the holiday travel and recent illness I’m afraid I won’t be quite ready. I’ll be close. Close enough to finish anyway. I hope I’m in shape enough to finish without stopping but we’ll have to wait and see. Since it’s at the end of February it’s very likely the weather will be cool. If it’s cool I don’t see too much of a problem.

I did get a few short runs in this week at least. I’ll talk more about that in next weeks training week recap. My lungs felt more like normal during this mornings run so I think it’s safe to assume my training will get back to normal next week. YEAH!

Here I come AU Half! Time to get serious!

Favorite Workout Songs 2016

I couldn’t run without music. That’s me. I’ve just gotta have it. I listen to all types of music but when I run I do prefer pop, dance, and rap. Kinda weird for someone that loves bluegrass too! Here are my favorite workouts songs from 2016:

TOP THREE FAVORITES:
CAN’T STOP THE FEELING! – Justin Timberlake [113 BPM]
Chase You Down (Extended) – RUNAGROUND [123 BPM]
Sound of Your Heart – Shawn Hook [122 BPM]

ALL THE REST (Alphabetically):
Cheap Thrills (feat. Sean Paul) [Le Youth Remix] – Sia [120 BPM]
Don’t Let Me Down (feat. Daya) [W&W Remix] – The Chainsmokers [80 BPM]
Greenlight (feat. Flo Rida & LunchMoney Lewis) – Pitbull [115 BPM]
HandClap (Dave Audé Remix) – Fitz & The Tantrums [129 BPM]
Help Me Run Away – St. Lucia [158  BPM]
Higher – Carly Rae Jepsen [14 BPM]
Just Like Fire – P!nk [81 BPM]
Me Too 3:01 – Meghan Trainor [124 BPM]
Move Your Body (Alan Walker Remix) – Sia [128 BPM]
Rise (Monsieur Adi Radio Edit) – Katy Perry [124 BPM]
Scars to Your Beautiful (Luca Schreiner Remix) – Alessia Cara [118 BPM]
Summer Nights (feat. John Legend) – Tiësto [124 BPM]
This Is What You Came For (feat. Rihanna)- Calvin Harris [124 BPM]

What are some of your favorite workout songs?

Half Marathon Training/Phase One: Week Four

Training week four is a week that wasn’t.

Monday was a holiday travel day so I wasn’t able to get my run in. I hate it because really my Monday run is my favorite run of the week. On Wednesday I got my tempo run on the treadmill in just fine but by noon that day I could feel myself coming down with something.

By Thursday morning I was sick! Terrible sore throat and headache mostly. Breathing just fine but eating and swallowing wasn’t easy. The cough increased from there. I didn’t go to the doctor so I really don’t know if it’s just a cold, bronchitis or strep. I’ve been self medicating with Tylenol, Mucinex, Flonase, warm salt water gargles, cough drops and hot totties.

As of this writing it’s the beginning of week five training and for the first time in days I’m starting to feel better but I haven’t recovered enough to start training again. Week four was a wash and week five may not be much better.

With this much time off it looks like I really can’t just play catch up anymore. Once training begins again I’m going to have to adjust my training plan and go back to what I was doing at week two. Maybe I can push it to week three but it’s too early to tell. This setback will affect my Augusta University Half Marathon at the end of February but I still have plenty of time to prepare for the half’s in Nashville and Indianapolis in April and May. I really wasn’t expecting much at the AU Half but now it’s really not going to be anything more than a paid training run.

Setbacks happen. It’s all a part of being a runner. I’ll get through this like I get through everything else. No giving up–just deal with the present. Let’s just hope after week five things start improving.

Just curious; after an illness (injury is totally different) do you pickup where you left off or continue as if nothing happened?