Windermere 1/2 Marathon: Week 5 down, 7 weeks to go!

I feel like I did okay this week training wise, but I also felt like I struggled a bit. I am not concerned about it because it is probably just mental. Even though I know that it is perfectly normal to have ups & downs when you are training for something.

Monday is my dedicated off day. It is nice to be able to sleep in an extra 2 hours before work and actually get ready in my own bathroom. I might start attending a TRX or Pilates class on Monday, but I am still on the fence. I think going to a group class is intimidating. Everyone stares at you and I am always worried that I will make myself look like an idiot.

Wednesday I had my hill workout. Lets just say that the hill worked me! I decided to run the hill in Lincoln Park instead of the hill by SAC for an extra challenge. The LP hill is a MONSTER! The good thing about my workout is that somewhere along the hill I lost a pound. I did a 2.20 mile warm up, ran 2.8 miles of hill repeats (10 sets in total), and then completed a 2.0 mile cool down.

The super cool thing about my workouts is that I finally got my Garmin heart rate monitor to work. Since I had never used it in the 2 years of owning my watch the battery was dead. It is a pretty awesome/amazing training tool. My only complaint is that it is hard to run and read what your heart rate is at the same time.

Friday was my tempo run. It was raining when I woke up and I had zero motivation to get drenched so I decided to sleep in a bit and then do some packing for our trip to Olympia. I got off work at 3:30 and headed straight to SAC to get my 7 miles in. I figured I could park there and run through Browne's Addition and then do a loop around Riverfront Park. I felt really sluggish in the beginning and was thinking that the run was not going to go well. I hit my 1 mile marker and glanced at my watch to see that I had just ran a 7:53 mile! I guess I wasn't being a slug after all! I decided to slow down about 20 seconds per mile so that I could complete my run without dying. The workout ended up going perfect even though I was tired from my long/stressful week. I took a couple of minutes off of my last 7 mile tempo which was 2 weeks prior.

On Saturday after class we left for our quick trip to Olympia. I was a little worried because not only did I have a 10 mile run on Sunday, but I was worried about what I would eat. I was good and packed some food with me for the way over. I made a sandwich, threw in some granola bars and strawberries w/Greek yogurt.
I also packed up my protein powder for after my run. I definitely like to be prepared!

We went to Anthony's for dinner, which didn't make me feel quite as paranoid about what to eat. I knew that I could get Salmon for dinner and that it would be good. I was proud of myself for passing on the rolls and my mashed potatoes.  My salmon and broccoli was amazing!

I was able, with the help of Cam's aunt & uncle, to map out my run. It is always nice to run in a different area, but I wanted to make sure I knew exactly where I was going so that I didn't get lost! I got up at 6 am on Sunday morning so that I could get my run done before we had to head back to Spokane. It was gorgeous and so incredibly peaceful. I almost wished that I had ran with my cell phone so that I could have taken some pics along the way. I ran through downtown Olympia and then around Capitol Lake 3 times and then back. The way back was a bit more challenging because I had an intense hill that I had to run back up. I think that it looked worse then it actually was, but it sure was a steep one! By the time I got back to the house I had ran exactly 10 miles. The whole run felt awesome. It always feels great to get up early and go running because it sets a positive tone for the rest of my day and gives me an extra boost of energy. The awesome part about my run was that I took 3 minutes off my 10 mile time from my run 2 weeks ago. Just knowing that made me feel even better about where my training is going.

--Tasha