Nerves.

I have a half on Saturday, the first race of the year. 

One of my goals this year is to run a half in under 2 hours.  I thought I really had a chance to do it this race, then I got sick and had to take a little time off.  Now, I'm completely second guessing myself.  It's a little ambitious to thing I can run a sub-2 right out of the gate isn't it?  I ran a 2:11 in December.  2 months just isn't enough time to shave off that much time, right?  RIGHT?

1/21-1/27 Week in Review

After my blistering run on Monday, the cold front came in.  And it was cold, yo! 

Tuesday was no problem, just an easy 30 minutes on the elliptical.

But Wednesday?  Hill repeater day?  It was 15 degrees out when I started my run.  I warmed up a mile (ha!  Warm-up!) ran 10 hill repeaters and cooled-down for a mile.  To tell you the truth, my body never really felt warm. 

And then came Friday.  Which was an easy 5-miler.  If you want to call 20 degrees easy.  It looked like this:

Yes.  That's me.  Actually, the run turned out to be quite fun.  That jacket is quite cozy and I sort of moved along in my own little bubble of warmth.  Sort of like the warm spot in the pool.  But without the pee.

Saturday's long run was a chilly, hilly 13 miler.  My IT band was really acting up, and I only averaged a 10:35 pace.  Did you know the human nasal cavity can literally produce buckets of snot in two and a half hours?  Seriously.  Buckets. 

And because I was feeling frisky, I threw this bad boy in around mile 11.  Though it's really no different than the ones at miles 6-10...

Bad Blogger. Baaaaaad.

I haven't been blogging.  I have utterly failed at the blog challenge, lol!

On the otherhand, I have been doing all my workouts (yes, Katie!  Even the cross-training!) And am starting to see results.  My coach wanted me to shoot for an 8:45min/mi on my Tempo loop yesterday.  Let me just tell you about my Tempo loop.  It's a real bitch.  It's 6.75-7 miles long (Depending on if I start from my house or somewhere actually on the loop.)  One entire side of it is rolling hills, the other is loooong gradual hills.  Depending on which way you run it, you have your choice of running up the steepest side of all the hills but a mostly downhill gradual finish, or the easy side of the rollers, but a long gradual mostly uphill finish.  Both suck equally. 

Anyways, the fastest I've ever run it is an 8:59 pace.  I know that at that point, the 15 second difference is mostly mental.  So I prepared myself and went for it.  It was tough.  I knew that my body was physically strong enough, but pushing myself hard is not something I do easily.  I generally finish all my races knowing I could've gone a little harder.  I kept asking myself  "You can, but WILL you?"  Well, long story short, I didn't make it.  But I came damn close!  7 miles, 8:47 pace!  Yay, me!

Today is a cross-training day.  As soon as the 3 year-old goes down for a nap, I will hit the ellipse machine for 30 minutes, then do some abs and IT band exercises. 

I have my eyes on that Half in February.  I may not get sub-2, but not for a lack of trying!

January 15. Cross Training Day

I'm taking full advantage of my rest week!  I did an easy 30 minute spin on the stationary bike, some IT band exercises and push-ups.  Easy-peasy.  Rest, rest, rest.  Next Monday I'm going to hit my Tempo the hardest I've ever gone...

January 14. The missed Tempo.

Monday mornings are tempo mornings.  Generally the hilly 7 mile loop around my neighborhood, more if I'm in a marathon training cycle.  Today was 59 degrees, and lightly raining.  Perfect conditions to kill a tempo run.  Yeah.  Not so much.  I think I was still fatigued from last week's 33 miles, because I just could NOT get my pace up to 9 minute miles.  It just was not happening.  I had the idea in the back of my head to try for my big goal of 2013, a sub-2 half.  I'm beginning to doubt if it's going to happen.  It's okay, I have plenty of half marathons in my schedule this year... I just think this first one is the flattest of the bunch. 

7.2 miles, 9:21 pace.

January 13. The one where I rest.

I'm exhausted mentally and physically.  My IT band hurts, and I'm taking a hard-earned rest day.  At most, I will do some leg strengthening exercises with my resistance band.

I'm very proud (and quite jealous) of all my running friends that completed the Goofy Challenge today.  Congratulations guys!  You all totally rock!

January 12. The one where I grow a beard.

I probably should have taken today off and done my long run tomorrow.  I'm quite burnt out after exercising everyday this week.  But, I really wanted Sunday off, so I could try to nail Monday's tempo run. 

It was foggy and misting when it got light enough for me to see outside.  Le sigh.  The weather was warm enough for shorts and long-sleeves and I was out the door by 9.  It was really, really wet.  And a bit chillier than I thought.  My hair was quickly soaked and I was dodging puddles to keep my shoes dry. 

I knew that I was going to be running slowly (long run pace) and I decided to make the run as hilly as possible.  I have some really hilly half marathons coming up.  Around mile 5 I decided to take a potty break.  I took a peek in the mirror to see how wet my hair actually was and was *shocked* to see my face.  Almost every peach fuzz hair on my face had a tiny drop of water hanging off of it, I looked like I had grown a full beard!  And apparently I need to wax my upper lip, because I was also sporting a moustache.  Plus there were little drops hanging from my eyebrows.  Very attractive. 

I finished up at 12.33 miles, 10:40 pace.  I'm exhausted.  I ran 33 miles this week and can NOT wait for tomorrow's rest day.