JASR Half Marathon Training: Week 8

Happy Sunday! This past week was #8 of training for the Just a Short Run Half Marathon, which will be my 8th half marathon. I'm following the Hansons' Half Marathon Method for the second time. As usual, I'm joining Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their fun Weekly Wrap.


I don't know how to feel about this week. I was dealing with a cold at the beginning of the week and then snow and bitter cold the rest of the week, but I don't want to make excuses. This week I kinda just gave up, getting in only 28.5 of my scheduled 42 miles and, for the first time, completely skipping a run. I'm getting tired of the cold and having to put on so many layers, and I'm getting frustrated when I can't find a place free of snow and ice to do my speedwork. I actually looked into joining a gym to use a treadmill. Desperate times, people. I have free access to a gym at work, but it doesn't open early enough for me. I did find two close by that open at 5, but I decided not to join. It would be really expensive considering I only plan to use it for a few times when I can't run outside, and I dislike the treadmill so much I'm not even sure I could do my runs on it. It just doesn't feel like running to me. I've decided instead to just do the best I can in bad weather, which likely means replacing speedwork with easy runs. I'm so happy that I made my goal race this fall and am not shooting for a big goal for this half.

Here's how the week went down.

Week at a Glance


Weekly Recap

Monday
I had gotten a cold the Sunday before and on Monday was not feeling well. I was sneezing and blowing my nose constantly, and there was just no way I could run. I took a rest day from running but did get in 25 minutes of strength training with weights...which was hard considering I wasn't feeling good! I'm really happy I took this as a rest day because I bounced back really quickly. Like I said last week, this was the first time in at least three years I had a cold, and I'm happy I only really felt bad for two days.

Tuesday
Easy run: 4 miles | 50:17 | 12:35 pace (17 degrees feels like 5)
While I felt better, I was sneezing so much that I decided to work from home. I headed out at lunchtime when it had warmed up for some easy miles since I didn't want to push it from just being sick. It was still really cold with a biting wind, so I decided to wear my face mask. I was glad I did and felt comfortable, but I saw a guy out running in shorts!
I passed a guy running in shorts as I was running in this.

Wednesday
Easy run: 3.5 miles | 44:48 | 12:48 pace (8 degrees)
Wednesday is usually a rest day, but I decided to run since I took Monday off. I wore the same thing as I did the day before. The face mask really helps!

Thursday
Tempo run: 6 miles | 1:11:39 (14 degrees)
It snowed a few inches Wednesday late in the day. Some sidewalks had been cleared but not salted, and they were very slippery. The non-cleared sidewalks weren't slippery, but it was slow going on them. I had 4 miles at goal half marathon pace 10:40 and was really frustrated. Between the snow and slipping, I just couldn't get consistent miles at my goal pace. I finally found about a quarter-mile of cleared and salted sidewalks in front of the casino and ran back and forth there as long as I could. I was so frustrated. Splits: 11:29, 10:45, 10:49, 10:53.

In the evening I did a 10-minute Pilates abs routine using the magic circle (such a great workout).

Friday
Easy run: 5 miles | 1:02:19 | 12:28 pace (14 degrees)
Nothing to say about this run, so I'll share a funny story. I went to the grocery store at lunch to buy bananas, not anticipating what a madhouse it would be with everyone stocking up before the snowstorm came that afternoon. In the very long line, I amused myself with seeing what everyone considered emergencies to get them through a snowstorm. The little old lady in front of me was only buying six boxes of Cracker Jacks.

Saturday
We didn't get nearly what DC, Philly, and New York got, but when I woke up Saturday, we had at least five or six inches (I think the news said we got eight). I planned to run but changed my mind while walking my dog. The snow was so deep and nothing was cleared, and the two of us could  barely walk in it. I couldn't even run in the road because the roads weren't cleared. If I'd gone out, I would have been slogging through 14-minute miles, and I just didn't think it was worth it. I stayed in and did 25 minutes of strength training with weights.

In the afternoon I started setting up my new self-hosted blog, which I was pretty excited about. I was surprised how easy and quick it was. I only have a little more to do before I launch it. Yay!

Sunday
Long run: 10 miles | 2:01:41 | 12:11 pace (19 degrees)
The Hansons' method follows the advice of running coach and exercise physiologist Jack Daniels, who prescribes long runs of no more than 25-30% of total weekly volume to prevent injuries. I had a long run of 12 miles scheduled, but because my weekly volume was less than it should have been, my long run would have been about 40% of my volume. I decided to do 10 instead. I ran 2 miles by myself before meeting Jamie and Anna to do 8. This run was surprisingly tough for me. All week I'd felt extremely rested because of the low mileage and no speedwork (not a good thing considering my training plan is all about building cumulative fatigue!). I thought this run would be a walk in the park because of all the rest, but it wasn't. I think the lack of miles this week hurt me because when you're regularly running so many miles, the long run usually feels like just another run and not really tough. At any rate, I got it done and was very happy to have company for it.
Forgot to take a picture with Anna and Jamie!

It's been so cold and snowy that my dog has not really wanted to go for a long walk. In the afternoon, the sun came out and it warmed up to the upper 20s. I took Django on a nice long walk. We ended up walking up a big hill through snowy sidewalks, and I was so tired. I was walking so slowly that Django kept stopping to look back at me, wondering why I was taking so long. By the time we got home, I was done, and I enjoyed a very nice nap with the dog and cats.

In the evening I made the Indian Samosa Casserole I linked to in a post last week. It wasn't very good. The last step to make the filling was to add agave nectar. That didn't sound right, but I did it anyway. I think it gave it an odd taste. I wouldn't make this again.

It's going to warm up this week and not snow again, so I shouldn't have a problem getting my scheduled runs in. I'm so happy about that because I'm itching to get back on schedule. There's a chance I will launch my new blog by next weekend. I am soooo excited about my new look and feel and can't wait!

Happy running and working out this week!

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