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13 Weeks to 13 Miles! OUC Orlando Half Marathon Training: Week 3

Let's go! Week 3 is here. 3 mile runs are certainly getting easier each time I do them. We shall see what happens as we start adding more and more mileage as time goes on. This week remained fairly easy.

Monday
Plan: Cross Training, Actual: Rest
I mentioned in my last day's recap that I was having weird pain around my c-section incision. Well, it was still sticking around on Monday so I didn't do anything extra. I hit my 10,000 step goal just doing my everyday normal thing so that was a bonus. I did walk around the cul-de-sac once just to get a few extra steps but I didn't rush and didn't track it or anything.

Tuesday
Plan: 3 Miles, Actual: 3 Miles
Up and at em early again. This getting up at 5:30am thing is definitely getting a bit easier. I still find that I am awake about 20-30 minutes before I have to be with a bit of anxiety about getting up on time that makes it to where not only am I on time, but I'm early getting up because I can't sleep worrying about it. It's a vicious cycle. The weather was glorious this morning. 66 degrees when I left the house and it stayed that way through my run. I found that while my pace was similar to my norm at 13:26 minutes per mile, it felt easier. I could have probably pushed it a bit more but just didn't feel like it. I figure I have mentioned it before, but I am not super concerned about my overall pace. Pace isn't my goal for running. My goal is finishing the distance and positively impacting my health. Speaking of which, my heart rate is getting better during runs. My first run of this training cycle I had an average heart rate of 171. That was two weeks ago at this point. I am now averaging 166 at a similar pace. My max heart rate is also lowering. I know some people run and max their heart rate out around 110... but that has never been me. I just like knowing that I am doing some good for myself. Oh... and I saw a shooting star (which my know-it-all child informed me is actually a meteor... which I knew... ) during this run so that was pretty exciting.

Wednesday
Plan: Rest, Actual: Rest
Another day of 10,000 steps without doing anything major. Between helping out at Birthday Bash at Kenzie's school (a monthly thing done at lunch for any kiddos with birthdays that month) and walking the long way around the fields at baseball practice plus a trip over to the soccer fields to see friends before we left, I was able to get all my steps in. That was good because I did NOT feel like going for a walk. I was so tired tired.

Thursday
Plan: 3 Miles, Actual: 4 Miles
So... Steven made a good point that since we had the 5k scheduled on Saturday, we should change our runs around so that we didn't have to do that whole run one mile in the morning and then the 5k in the evening thing. He did it Wednesday and I figured I could still wake up at the same time as usual and get it done before he had to leave for work and I needed to be back at the house. So, I did. I was good... and difficult. I felt great for the first 3 miles. I even had paces under 13 minutes per mile which is something I haven't done too often since starting this 1:1 interval thing. I'm still loving the 1:1. I feel great when I finish and am not too sore at any point in time so I think I will keep it for now. Plus, I always read that a typical 2:1 pace is about 12 minutes per mile so I'm not too far off of that using the 1:1. Anyway, the first three miles were great. The fourth mile was difficult. I hit a wall at about 3.2 miles thinking that I still had .8 to go. I know that will get better as mileage increases but it was tough during this run. This was our last week with 3 mile runs for a while. Weekday runs will increase slowly up to 5 miles at their highest. Weekends will just keep climbing to 12. I am still feeling pretty good about the entire thing though. And overall, I was just glad to have the four miles for the week done with.

Friday
Plan: Rest, Actual: Rest
I managed to get my 10,000 steps again without too much extra work. Got to love the fact that even though the kids are in school and I don't have any report going at the moment, I never stop going when they are at school and manage to get 10,000 steps just naturally. It's crazy how much moving I do during the day.

Saturday
Plan: 4 Miles, Actual: 5k Race
This was the other run that I switched to try to make life easier and make sure my runs aren't split unless they absolutely need to be. We had an evening 5k. Will did the kids' race. He cried. He doesn't like kids' races. I think they are too haphazard for him. Kenzie did the 5k with me. We walked A LOT of it. It was so very hot. She wasn't having it. I would have been faster without needing to wait for her, but we think it is important to keep her active and she actually does love races so I was okay walking if that is what we needed to do to finish it. I pushed Will in the stroller for the first mile or so and then let him out. He ended up finishing the rest of the 5k with me on his own two feet. He did amazing. Especially for the weather issues with the heat and the fact that half of the race you spend walking due west it seems and directly into the sun. That was rough to say the least. We weren't fast by any means, but the miles were done and the kids did great. Will actually asked me the next day that if we have to do another race, he doesn't want to do the kids' race. He wants to do the real race because he liked it. That made me happy.

And that was Week 3 in a nutshell. Almost 1/4 of the way there!

Total Weekly Miles: 10.1
Total Training Miles: 32.34 (Pulled from my Garmin data so it takes into account random .01 miles, etc.)

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