Training - Week 7

All in all, a darned good week of training. I'm surprised that, while I've been tired and a bit sore, I'm not anywhere near as hurtin' as I was at this point in my training last year.

The week looked like this:

- Tuesday: 3 miles on the indoor track
- Wednesday: 6 miles on the indoor track
- Saturday: 3 miles on the treadmill
- Sunday: 13.1 miles - a complete half marathon!

A couple things really stood out this week:

• Tuesday and Wednesday, I ran like a machine. Without really trying to, or keeping track, my pace stayed right around 9:30/mile. That's too fast for a marathon, but I was happy to be very consistent in my pace.
• Wednesday, I ran with no stops apart from quick water breaks. I like the fact that, while I still do run/walking, I'm getting better at going longer distances without stopping.
• On the treadmill Saturday I started out at 5.5 mph, worked up to 6.5 for the last mile, and did the last half mile at 7.0. Compare this to the same time last year, I topped out at about 4.7 mph. I felt like I owned the treadmill that day!
• Sunday's run was supposed to be just 13, but I added the extra .1 on to see how I'd do for a complete half. I ran it in 2:14 and change, which is about 9 minutes better than what I ran my first half marathon 2 years ago. And this was a training run, not a race!

All in all, I felt strong, I felt fast, and I didn't feel sore or too tired. Just 11 more weeks from this point. Fortunately, this coming week is a dropback week so it should be only 10 miles. "Only," I say...I can remember when the thought of running 6 scared me!

Have a great week, everyone...