Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 3 of Half-Marathon Training

Three weeks down, 10 more to go!

This week's schedule:

Tuesday - Speed work (intervals)
Wednesday - 3 mile easy run
Friday - 3 mile easy run
Sunday - 6 mile long run

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Tuesday - Intervals

10 minute warm-up jog
6 x (1 min hard; 2 min walk)
5 minute cool down jog

I was kind of dreading doing this, because the first workout I did for this training schedule was this exact same workout, except I just did five intervals instead of six. It was really tough when I did it a couple of weeks ago, so I was hoping it would be better on Tuesday. Thankfully, it was.

I did the warm-up jog at 5.0 mph (12:00/mile). Then I did my hard intervals at 7.6 mph (a 7:54/mile pace). Walked at 3.0 mph (20:00/mile). I think I probably should have done 7.8 mph, or maybe even 8.0, because my heart rate didn't get very high like I would have expected. That could be because the intervals were so short, though. Next time I do intervals, I'll be doing 2 minutes at a time, so I'll see if I can do 7.6 again.

It's kind of interesting that my hard intervals were 7.6 mph--when I ran my goal 10K in 2016, I ran that same speed (7:54/mi) for the whole 10K! It's so hard to imagine that there was a time when that was my race pace. It seems SO far off now. But I worked super hard to get to that point, and right now, I'm a beginner again. Being a beginner is fun! I'm actually seeing the progress from run to run.

Wednesday - 3 miles easy

I was able to run at 5.1 mph for a little bit while keeping my heart rate low, but then I dropped it back down to 5.0 once my heart rate increased. I'm still not strictly following heart rate training, but I've been paying more attention to it and adjusting my pace a little as needed.

My hamstrings were SUPER tight the first couple of weeks I was running, and I decided to start stretching after my runs. It's made a huge difference! The first day, I tried to bend over and touch my toes, and I was probably six inches away. After a little stretching, I was able to bend over and actually touch my toes.

I was really sore for a few days after I started stretching, but now it feels really good to do it after my runs. I usually do it on the treadmill as I cool off; and the treadmill is still warm from my run, so I love to sit down on the belt as I start to feel cold.

Friday - 3 miles easy

This was a pretty plain, boring run. I just set the treadmill at 5.0 mph (12:00/mi) and watched The Shield while I ran. My heart rate stayed in the 140's, which I was happy with.

I forgot to take a picture--I've been trying to take a photo after each run.

Sunday - 6 miles long

I was really dreading this one, because I had hoped to do it outside. We got a ton of snow today, though, and it was the heavy, wet snow that I didn't even want to attempt to run in.

I've also realized that running so slowly takes up a lot of time. I know it seems obvious--slower equals longer. But I had gotten so used to using 10:00/mi as a rough estimate of time spent running (6 mile run will take about 60 minutes, 4 mile run about 40, etc. Simple math.)

So, when I think about my runs, I still tend to think that way. "Oh, I have a 3 mile run today, so I have to get on the treadmill by this time so that I'm ready to leave by that time." But to plan for today's 6 miler, it wasn't a 60 minute guesstimate. It was 12:00 x 6 miles... 72 minutes. That's a big difference! So, I need to get used to planning for a longer running time.

I felt really good during the whole run, so I was grateful for that. I covered the treadmill screen with a towel so that I wouldn't have to watch the mileage/time slowly ticking by.

I did notice that when I changed speeds (I moved between 5.0 and 5.5 several times), my Garmin didn't register the change by more than a few seconds per mile. I was trying to figure out why that was, and after some experimenting, I saw that when I would move my arm really fast, my Garmin showed I was running a 6:00-something pace, and then when I moved it very slow or held it very still, it showed a 20:00-something pace.

So, the Garmin is definitely not accurate on the treadmill. If I want the Garmin to be accurate, I'll have to use the foot pod again (which isn't calibrated). As my runs get longer, I will probably want to do this, because that little indiscretion will make a bigger and bigger difference.

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Anyway, I'm psyched to be done with three weeks of training! I haven't missed any workouts, and I feel really good about that. On to week four...