Weekly Recap: May 18 - 24

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!

This was a very light taper week to rest up for tomorrow's half marathon. May has pretty much been a light rest and recovery month for running That will continue this week as I'll be taking a few days off from running after tomorrow's race, then my husband and I will be going to Boston for a long weekend. Yay for two long weekends in a row! I'm fine with May being a light month, but I'm ready to get back to it. I set running goals for the rest of the year and will be posting about those later this week.

Here's how last week went.  Total mileage was 8.71.

Monday
I did 15 minutes of yoga (hip openers) in the morning and 25 minutes of strength training in the evening.

Tuesday
Easy run: 3.2 miles, 38:45, 12:07 pace
It was 67 but very humid.
Athleta skirt & Wasabi Green Heather Stripe Chi Tank
Lulu Jeweled Magenta Bangbuster & Zing Pink Light Energy Bra

Wednesday
I did 30 minutes of yoga (hip openers).

Thursday
Pace run: 4.01 miles, 45:00
Just had 2 miles at half marathon pace (11:00) on the schedule, plus warm-up and cool-down. It was 48 and raining, so you'd think this would have been an awesome run. But it was actually pretty tough, and I had to work for my splits (10:49 & 10:48). I blame it on staying up late to watch the Survivor finale.
Really bad pic with the flash!
Athleta Relay Capris
Lulu Heathered Black Pace Pusher Long Sleeve
Friday
Rest day

Saturday
I did 50 minutes of yin yoga.

I also took a 2.5-hour nap in preparation for the American Ninja Warrior taping. We had tickets for the 10:30 p.m. taping. The 8 p.m. taping was sold out, and the other options were 12:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. It is pretty much impossible for me to stay up late (my usual bed time is 9), so I was worried about being able to stay up. I have been known to fall asleep watching bands play at loud bars, so I brought a 5 Hour Energy with me (I know; they're awful.). We had to take a shuttle to the set and got to the shuttle stop a half hour early, only to find hundreds of people already in line. There were two very small shuttles, and they took 20 minutes to go to the set and back. We stood in line for about 45 minutes to see how fast the line would move and would have had to wait at least 30 more minutes to get on the shuttle. We realized that even when we got on the shuttle and to the set, there would be another line to get into the set and then another long line to get the shuttle back to the parking area. We were looking at a good 3-4 more hours, and I was already fading by that point and knew I couldn't make it. So, unfortunately we left. But lesson learned: If you can get tickets, get to the shuttle stop at least 1.5 hours before the taping time! 

Sunday
Easy run: 1.5 miles, 18:23, 12:15 pace
I did a short, easy shake-out run in preparation for tomorrow's race. The heat is back! 
Athleta Relay Skirt
Oiselle Tank

Tomorrow I'll be running the Ghost Town Half Marathon in Indiana, PA. The weather is going to really suck. We had a cold spell over the past few days, even with a frost advisory, but of course that all goes away just in time for the race! It doesn't help that it's a late start at 9 a.m., so it will be a toasty 68F at race start and 78 when I'm finishing. The crazy thing is...I can't wait! I'm so excited for this race, even knowing that it's going to be hot. I'm excited because I get to try again. I realize that my pace will likely be slower than the goal pace I trained for, but that doesn't mean I can't try my hardest to implement my pacing strategy and work toward other goals, which are:

A. Finish strong. I plan to run the first 10 miles at an easy to moderate pace and try to pick up speed in the last 5K. However, if I can't manage to speed up but just stay steady, or as hard an effort as I can manage, I'll consider that a win.
B. Stay strong, mentally. I know that this is going to be a tough race because of the heat, and I know there's going to be a point where that it's too hard and I want to give up. I'm not going to give up! My strategy is to think of this race as running just one mile, 13.1 times. I'm going to fight for every mile and not let a bad split get to me.
C. Be satisfied with whatever time I finish. I'm going to be paying close attention to my level of effort and heart rate. I want to keep my heart rate down early on so I have enough energy to finish strong. I realize that may mean I'll be running slower than my goal pace. I'm okay with that now, and I want to be okay with that after I finish.

I will post the recap tomorrow or Tuesday. Enjoy your Memorial Day!

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