JASR Half Marathon Training: Week 4

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the holidays if you celebrated. As much as I love to dream about where to move when we retire (or before), I have to say that living close to family makes the holidays a lot less stressful. My husband's college friend came to visit this past weekend and was to fly out this morning. His flight got canceled because of weather in Chicago, and he couldn't find another flight until tomorrow! I'm happy I'm home and not dealing with travel irritations. I'm also happy I had no problems fitting in my runs over the holidays. If anything, training over the holidays makes things a little easier because I'm off work. While I missed one day of foam rolling, I think doing it most days really helped my hip pain go away and stay away, because I didn't have any problems last week.

Here's how last week went down. As usual, I'm joining Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their fun Weekly Wrap.

Week at a Glance

• 6 days of running
• 32 miles of running (114.21 miles so far in this training cycle)
• 6 hours and 27 minutes of running
• 2 sessions of yoga
• 2 sessions of strength training 
• Planks 5 days
• Stretching every day
• Foam rolling 6 days

Weekly Recap

Monday
Easy run: 4 miles | 51:24 | 12:51 pace (45 degrees)

Athleta Elite Stripe Half Zip
Lulu Heathered Slate Speed Tights

In the evening I did 25 minutes of yin yoga.

Tuesday
Easy run: 5 miles | 1:04:19 | 12:52 pace (53 degrees and raining)

Lulu White Long Sleeve Swiftly,
Silver Fox Miss Misty Jacket,
Bordeaux Drama Speed Tights
(I was overdressed and hot.)

In the evening I did I did 25 minutes of the Strong and Fast workout with weights from Runner's World.

Wednesday
Rest day! I did 25 minutes of yin yoga.

Thursday (Christmas Eve)
Tempo run: 5 miles | 56:24 (58 degrees!)
On the Hansons' plan, tempo runs are actually race-pace runs, with the middle miles at your goal race pace. This was the first of the SOS (something of substance) workouts on the plan in this training cycle for me, so of course it was warm (I don't like running in warm temps), even though it was Christmas Eve. My main goal for this training cycle is to get through the Hansons' Half Marathon plan again as a foundation before the full marathon plan later in 2016, and not to try for a significant increase in speed. So, I made my goal race pace 10:40, just 10 seconds/mile faster than my 10:50 PR pace. This was the first workout to try out that pace. With so many weeks of easy running, I was excited to add some speed but also a little nervous because I didn't know how my race pace would feel. The first mile I was all over the place with my pace, but I settled into a good rhythm with the next two miles. The pace felt pretty good, and I was easily able to push at the end, which I like to do on race-pace runs. Splits were 10:44, 10:37, 10:20.

Lulu Heathered Clear Mint Swiftly Short Sleeve
Athleta Grey Be Free Knickers

After the run I did the 15-minute body-weight strength routine from the Strong and Fast workout from Runner's World.

My husband and I spent Christmas Eve as we do every year, with Dave's family. I made a few really good recipes that I plan to post here soon--a spiced nut mix and chickpea patties as appetizers, a roasted cauliflower dish as a side for dinner, and my cookies. I ended up only making three kinds of cookies this year. Oh well!  
Friday (Christmas)
Easy run: 4 miles | 49:30 | 12:24 pace (54 degrees)

Lulu Think Fast Pullover
Oiselle Lesley Tights

We spent Christmas with my family like we do every year. It was a lot of fun, as usual!

Saturday
Long run: 9 miles | 1:45:59 | 11:47 pace (47 degrees)
This was another solo long run for me, and again I went to North Park to run the first 9 miles of the race course. I felt really great the whole run and really enjoyed it. It was cool and cloudy, so I was in heaven.

Lulu Black Pace Pusher Longsleeve
Regal Plum Energy Bra
Space Dye Twist Ultra Violet Multi Pace Rival Crops

Sunday
Easy run: 5 miles | 59:57 | 11:59 pace (66 degrees)
Time to break out my running skirts for this very warm, humid run! It rained for only about a minute while I was running--probably because I really wanted it to rain because I was so hot! But the rain started in full force after my run and rained all day, making the temps drop too.

Lulu Capilano Stripe Cool Racerback
Ultra Violet Pace Rival Skirt

This past week marked the end of the base-building phase of the Hansons' plan. This week I start the speed phase, which I detailed here. Play time is over, and now the training starts to get hard. When I created my training plan, I decided to modify the speed workouts to keep the mileage but do less speed. I reasoned that since I wasn't aiming for a big time goal, I didn't need all the speed work. While that may be true, I realize I need to do all the speed work for another reason--for the mental training. I strongly believe that I was so successful with the Hansons' plan because it built up my confidence as much as it did my physical capabilities. Every week I did very hard workouts that I was unsure I'd be able to do, and completing them successfully was a huge confidence booster for me. Do I want to do 12 x 400 repeats tomorrow? No. But I will, because I know I need the mental training just as much, if not more, to prepare me for tackling my first full marathon.

Last Wednesday was my last day of work, and I don't go back until January 4, so I'm happy I can focus on my dreaded 12 x 400 repeats workout and other runs this week without also having to deal with that pesky work thing.

Enjoy running and working out during this last week of 2015!