Skip to main content

13 Weeks to 13 Miles! OUC Orlando Half Marathon Training: Week 11

It's the biggest week of the training plan!! Here. We. Go!

Tuesday
Plan: 5 Miles, Actual: 5 Miles
We have officially hit the point that 5 miles doesn't seem like much anymore. It's just 5 miles. The only downfall with this run was that it was about 5 degrees cooler than I would have liked. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers so I'm letting that go. It wasn't as cold as I was on Sunday morning so I will take that as a win. I did my normal route and didn't see the bear. Again. So that's about all I felt with this run. I was having a bit of pain on the side of my calf like I have before but it went away after about a mile. My pace was about average for me at around 13:30 or so. The run felt good though. That's about it. It's becoming so routine at this point that I don't have a lot to say about most of these shorter runs. They are standard, I guess. And I guess that is good.

Thursday
Plan: 5 Miles, Actual: 5 Miles
All in all, not a bad run. Honestly, I'm a half week or so removed from it and I don't really remember it. I remember that it was a bit chilly but I think it was my overall happy temperature to run. Mid 50's makes me feel pretty good. I am having a new fun thing that with the cooler weather, as I breathe, I tend to cough more. It isn't fun and sort of hurts. Oh well. One thing I have noticed throughout this training cycle is my lack of stitches. I used to get them somewhat frequently but don't really have them any longer. I'm not sure if it is just better training or maybe the cooler weather... or being better hydrated as that is something I have tried to focus on for the last few months. I have no idea. All I know is that I don't miss them. That is for sure.

Sunday
Plan: 12 Miles, Actual: 12 Freaking Miles
This was the one run that I was dreading from day 1. I knew this day would come. It didn't help that the day before I got home from the Florida Aquarium after an overnight with Girl Scouts and I was tired. I went to bed early though and Steven took the kids to church with him so I didn't have to rush out to start my run. I started around 5:45. The only real downfall to that was running for quite a while after the sun was up. I figured I might as well though because the race will be entirely in the sun. I'm just hoping it is cool that day. This run started at about 66 degrees which is okay for shorter runs, but this was 12. It wasn't bad. I can't actually complain too much. The only bad part was towards the very end, maybe the last 2 miles, when the sun broke through the clouds and anytime I ran east, I was running right into it. I had to pull my hat down pretty low. I definitely hit a proverbial wall around 8 miles. I stopped by the house to refill my water bottle and it was so hard to walk back out. Granted I only stopped in the garage for maybe a minute... but it was rough. Then when I hit about 9.5 miles, I had an even harder time getting it together. I kept thinking about the fact that I still had 2.5 miles to go. I sucked it up and did it though. Mile 11 was really difficult. I thought it might be easier knowing I was so close... but I was just tired. So tired. And so thirsty. But I was trying to keep some of my water until a little closer to the end so I was rationing. Last long run I got hungry in the middle. This one I just couldn't get enough water. Maybe I needed salt instead... but I didn't have any Nuun tablets or anything and was doing it all with just water. Usually when I finish a run, I can eat almost immediately. This run took me a while. I wasn't nauseous or anything. I just wasn't hungry. Later in the day though, I was starving. My overall pace was 13:44. Not too bad. Mile 2 was again over 14 minutes. I have no idea what is up with my random slower Mile 2's. So weird. Mile 12 was 14:12, but that didn't really surprise me. Other than those two, everything was under 14 minute miles. So I'm calling that a win. However, I don't think I will finish the half in less than 3 hours like I thought I may be able to do when I was running shorter distances. Not a big deal for me... but I don't think I will do it. I have said before and I will say again, it's all about distance for me. Not speed. I just want to know I can do it.

With this week (I have been referring to it as Peak Week) done, we are now officially tapering. And I'm not sad about that. Next week is downright easy compared to what we have been doing. So close. So very close.

Total Weekly Miles: 22
Total Training Miles: 149.93 (I'm so irritated that this isn't above 150...)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ushering in Five-and-a-half

No. Nope. Not happening. Not even close.... but it is. As of tomorrow, Will is officially five-and-a-half. Halfway to six. SIX. What on earth? Both of our kids need to slow their roll and take it down a notch. It's so crazy to think that Will is going to be six in just six short months. He will start Kindergarten soon. He is already registered and ready to go. He is growing up so fast right before our eyes and it is a happy and sad time for me as Mama, for sure. So, a short update on Will at 5-and-a-half... - Will is growing like a weed. It is not uncommon right now for people to ask me if he has grown inches upon inches overnight. We are noticing that he is catching up to Kenzie fairly quickly and some of his friends that he used to be very similar in height to, he has gotten slightly taller than them. It's just his growth spurt time, apparently.  He remains remarkably skinny. So skinny that his clothes tend to fall of of him if we don't have adjustable waists. T...

Preschool Done.... One Step Closer to MIT

So, here it is. The end of "preschool." Note: "Preschool" and "VPK" are not used interchangeably for the purpose of our discussion. In the sense of the word, Kenzie is done with "preschool" and next year will be in "VPK". Eek! That's not allowed. Kenzie's first official year in school is now done. She is one year older, one year wiser, one year more stubborn. It's crazy for us to think back that just a few short months ago we were going to her Meet the Teacher day and we were both having some major anxiety about our baby going to school. I remember the first day of school plain as day. I thought she might have some apprehension. Nope. None. I probably shouldn't have been surprised. Kenzie went in like she owned the place. There was a day that her teacher mentioned that Kenzie was one of the quiet ones in the class and rarely spoke. I'm still not sure that she was thinking of my Kenzie. Maybe I had been dropping of...

Eight is Great!

Today Kenzie is EIGHT! It's so crazy. We have an 8 year old. Only two years away from double digits. A third grader. A girl that is quickly becoming a preteen. There is only a year left (technically) until that is officially the stage we are in. Though I have to say... she acts more and more like an actual preteen every day of her life. She's too much. We often joke that she is 8 going on 28, but in all honesty, she is an old soul and often acts much older than her years. At 8-years-old, Kenzie... - Is still the friendliest kid I know. She loves with her whole heart. She hates to hurt anyone's feelings. The downside is that her feelings get hit hard when someone isn't nice to her. We have had to deal with that on occasion, especially in the last year when we had a run in with a girl that Kenzie thought was her friend but she ended up being not really nice to Kenzie in the long run. We learned as parents that the "mean girl" stage starts early. Kenzie...