Half Marathon Training: Week 9

Not my belly, just how I feel

I have decided that half marathon training is like being pregnant. Sometimes it's not a lot of fun. Sometimes it's a lot of hard work. And a lot of times, you just wish the big day would hurry up and get here already!! The anticipation is killing me! Only TWENTY more days.

Last week was a good week of training. I upped my calorie intake and had tons more energy. I felt a little more organized with meal planning and meal prep. And I feel like I made good choices (lots of Greek yogurt!) to keep my food choices healthy. It helps that I don't buy junk food any more, so I can't indulge if it's not in the house.

I think I over-did it a bit with my strength training session on Thursday however. I woke up Friday with a bad case of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). I did the same thing the week before. So Friday, I took extra time to stretch and foam roll my legs to prep for Saturday's long run.

For Saturday, I was scheduled to run 9-10 miles. I don't know if it was the muscle soreness or something else, but after 8 miles, my hamstrings decided to cramp up, and I had to quit just short of my planned mileage. I was sort of okay with that, but was kicking myself later for not pushing the last 4/10ths of a mile to make it to 9.

I did take extra care with more stretching and more foam rolling on Saturday, and that helped my legs. But I still felt sort of deflated. Not a great way to end the week.

I am definitely feeling that I need to work on my mental toughness. I need to start preparing my mind for the challenge that 13.1 miles will throw at me. This week I am going to start some positive affirmations and visualizations to mentally prepare myself for pushing through on race day. I am strong and I know I can do it!

Here's a brief summary of my workouts last week (more details for each workout are available on my daily mile page):

Monday: 4.45 mile run (felt strong!)
Tuesday: 45 minutes cardio/strength circuits for cross training
Wednesday: 4.45 mile run (again, felt great!)
Thursday: 45 minutes cardio/strength circuits
Friday: yoga, stretching, foam rolling
Saturday: 8.6 mile run
Sunday: rest day

My plan for this week is the same, adding a bit more mileage, and pushing myself to 10 miles on Saturday's long run.

Thanks so much for your words of encouragement on last week's post. I appreciate your support so much!




Photo Credit: stock.xchng