Here are the last two weeks of training for me. I was happy to have more of a recovery week this week, with my sister in town. I don't love when I want to spend time with people, but have to block out a couple of hours for running. That will be the challenge over spring break. It already stresses me out a little.

I ran all of last week on the treadmill! Surprisingly I didn't hate it. at. all.

MONDAY 13 - OTF

TUESDAY 14 - 5 miles trml. Snow day! We were all home! I did my workout in the morning on the trml. I can't remember exactly, but I did do hills.

I think mile 1 was 2 incline, mile 2 was at 3, mile 3 was between 2 and 4 varied, mile 4 was 4-7 incline, pushing up each quarter mile, mile 5 was back to 2. All between 7:45 and 8 pace. I walked half mile to cool down, and finish my show!

WEDNESDAY 15 - 6.5 miles trml. Speed workout. Another snow day! This one was more legit than the previous day!

THURSDAY 16 - OTF. Ran hills, always at least 3 miles.

I took my sis and BIL with me to OTF. It was their first time. It was great working out next to them! Loved it, and loved sharing this with them. It worked us all real good!

FRIDAY 17 - rest. I should've gone! Matt was home and we hung out in the am. The kids got home early, we went out to eat at Grovers for a late lunch. There was NO working out after that! THEN we made cinnamon rolls!!! It was just a day of indulgence!

SATURDAY 18 - 10 miles trml. I got up early so I could get my 10 in with time to get ready for our 11:00 movie. Of course it started snowing again! I ran it on the trml again! You'd think by the end of the week I'd hate it, but it actually went by really fast! For the first time since we've been in this house I opted for no TV and just ran with my headphones. It was great and went fast! I kept my pace at 7.6 or 7.7 speed, which was 7:45 pace.

MONDAY 6 - OTF. I've been going to OTF, then straight to deliver Meals on Wheels lately. I like it. I get my workout done, go volunteer, grocery shop then head home. Yes I'm a little stinky, but I do wet wipe myself to at least try not to stink as bad!

TUESDAY 7 - 8 miles trml. hills. I chose to work on the trml this day so I could work hills. I did one mile on and one off. Incline @ 2 and @4. I kept my pace at 7:30. It was a good way to break up my miles and time.

WEDNESDAY 8 - 5 miles outside. This was a nice easy run, prepping for my long run on Thursday. It was crazy windy of course! In fact this was the day the gusts were up to 40 mph. I got out before the worst of it, but I got some really good gusts while I was out.

THURSDAY 9 - 14 outside. 1:48:10 (7:43 pace) Long run! I am very, very happy with this run. Can you tell by my mis-timed happy jump? I really tried to get that several times before I felt like a fool!!!

I'd run 13 the week before, I was feeling good about this distance, which is different from all of my spring training last year! Every run over 10 miles felt a little daunting. I went out with a plan to go easy (8 pace) the first 5, then to pick it up a little for the last part (7:45).

As I got started, of course I started out faster than that! I always do, but my effort felt easy. As I ran, I changed up my plan. I'd do the first 5 right where I was (7:40), then slow down for 3 miles (around 8), then, alternate tempo and recover miles for the last 6.

I ran that plan and it was a great run! Mile 9 was my fastest mile! And what is crazy is that it just felt like a good tempo pace! Crazy! Here are my splits...

Mentally, changing up parts of my run kept me thinking and active. I didn't get bored. I was present for my whole run. That was a really good feeling.

Can I tell you that this training run was faster than my last two spring half marathon races! I see the value of making a plan, and running your plan. I need to do better at this.

The only bummer about this run is that I wore my Boston shirt and it totally chaffed my pitts. Like, bad! That shower hurt a little!

FRIDAY 10 - OTF

SATURDAY 11 - easy 5 trml.

There we have it. I'm looking forward to getting back at it this week!

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