I have a bit of catching up to do! Haven’t been blogging much since training and traveling was sucking up my schedule, but here’s my recap of my second and third week of my half Ironman base training.
Monday, November 26: Rest day, since I was traveling from LA back to Seattle and took the 7am flight. I was too tired to work out that night even though I had intended to do it. Rest never felt so good!
Tuesday, November 27: 1-hr Strength training.
Wednesday, November 28: Half an hour treadmill running. 2.11 miles. It’s really hard running on a treadmill, especially when there is no air circulation. Followed up with 45 minutes of strength training.
Thursday, November 29: 1 hour of swimming. Made it 0.75 miles. I was really sore from my strength training the day before so I took it super slow. My legs and calves were killing me! I followed it up with a half hour of cycling for 6.82 miles.
Friday, November 30: Headed out to Vegas for the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon so I took a bit of a training break in the morning to pack!
Saturday, December 1: Convinced my boyfriend to join me at the gym. I spent an hour loosening up on the bike. 21.6 miles. My adductors were feeling very tense and sore.
Sunday, December 2: Half marathon! Finished 13.93 miles in 2:46:15. Last year I ran it fifteen minutes faster. Race recap to follow.
Monday, December 3: Took the day off. Still very sore.
Tuesday, December 4: Took the day off since I was still a bit sore but was traveling back from Vegas to Seattle.
Wednesday, December 5: Back in the swing of things, I packed in 2.85 miles of running after work (41 minutes) and 50 minutes of strength training. I slept very well that night to head to the gym again in the morning. I think this was the night that I was very sad to have missed happy hour with some friends.
Thursday, December 6: 0.75 mile swim in the morning (47 minutes) and 7.81 miles on the bike (30 minutes) before work. Went back later that night to meet with a personal trainer and for quick sprint intervals on the treadmill (1.21 miles/17 minutes). Went home thoroughly exhausted.
Friday, December 7: 1 hour of strength training before work. I’m arriving later and later to the gym, which keeps pushing my work start time. Need to get to sleep and wake up earlier!
Saturday, December 8: 14.15 mile long run that I’ve been mentally preparing for since Thursday. It was my first time making it out to Green Lake without a car. Ran around the lake three times and headed back. Kept a close eye on my GPS so that I wouldn’t overdo it and promptly at mile 14 I found a bus stop and hitched a ride back home. Recap coming soon!
Lessons learned:
1) Time management is everything.
2) Overplan, don’t overtrain.
3) Listen to your body, especially at buffets.
4) Hydrate during the day.
5) Salads for lunch is also pretty awesome, if you keep your toppings under control.
6) Don’t forget to smile at strangers, as long as you are running in the opposite direction.
7) New routes and music/audiobooks will keep you from getting bored.
8) Telling everyone that you have a 14-mile long run on the weekend will ensure it gets done so that you feel no shame come Monday morning.
Amara in Training 