Week I

This past week was my first back to training after three off. Up until three weeks ago I had been struggling to train for my first half marathon I signed up to do with some former college teammates, Kelly, Margaret, Lisa, and Michelle. The original plan was to do the full marathon but, because I hadn't been able to keep up with the training (surprise, surprise), I bumped myself down to the half. My training for the half went well at first; I logged two of the longest weeks of training since college (24 and 25 miles) in September and had gotten up to my longest long run in a while (8 miles). But then, as things usually go, I was getting tired, sore, and cranky with running and ended up stepping way back, dropping my mileage back to under 20, even down to under 10 for some weeks. Then, three weeks ago, I ended up getting sick and taking a full week off. With little training and a full week away from running, I ultimately decided not to run the half. I decided then that I would take another week off and then start up training again slowly.

While I did take the two full weeks off, I actually also ended up running the half marathon. This was mostly because I got wrapped up in seeing Kelly again and was excited to be able to go to a race with people again. It hurt like hell but I had fun and still managed to squeeze under the 2-hour marker (1:59:42). All in all though it probably wasn't the smartest move. I ended up taking another "unplanned" week off and am still feeling the effects of the race on my legs two weeks later.

This past week, I set out to do three days of running: 2 miles on Monday, 2 miles on Thursday, and 3 miles on Sunday. I'm proud to say I did all three runs and felt pretty good on all of them. Monday I probably felt the worst; After the run I felt every muscle that was sore after the half marathon again. I was also a little sore on today's run and actually felt some runner's knee coming on. That'd be super lame if that turned into something. Here's hoping that it doesn't. Maybe it's new shoe time? If I only had the money...

Next week's training will consist of the same runs on the same days. Two of the days I won't run will be dedicated to other physical activities namely dodgeball and soccer. It's nice to have the variety in the mix because, as my training records have shown, I get bored quickly if I only have running.

If I run the week as planned this'll be the first time in a while that I've followed my training program for more than one week in a row. While consistency will come with my ability to stick to the program for several weeks, completing two in a row as written with surely be a step in the right direction!