Miles on Miles on Miles (Half Marathon Training)

I’m really going to do this.

I think it hit me during yesterday’s 7^th mile.  Running is not easy and you have to have the mindset for it.  I set out at 7:45am, after losing an hour of sleep, and my thoughts were on breathing and keeping a steady pace.  I didn’t think about the 9 miles that I had to complete otherwise I would have been overwhelmed.  Nine miles is a lot of miles to run.  My route is generally an out-and-back, which means that I just run a straight line until my app lets me know that I am at the half way point and then I turn around and run back.  I plan to map out a different route for this week, something a little more scenic.   I followed the run pattern that I established last week.  I ran the first 4.5 miles then I did a walk-run for the 5^th and 6^th miles and then the last three miles I picked up speed and my average pace went from 12’03” to 10’28”.  The entire run took an hour and 45 minutes.  I believe I can reach my goal of less than 3 hours for the 13.1.

 

The combination of the long run and losing an hour of sleep had me back in the bed for about 2 hours after the run.  I didn’t feel as weak as I did last weekend.  My body is slowly getting used to these long runs.  Perhaps one day, 6-10 miles will be the norm for me.  After resting, I got up and did my grocery shopping and meal prep but for the majority of the day I was on the couch re-watching Grace and Frankie on Netflix – which is typical Sunday afternoon behavior.    

I’m falling back in love with running.  Slowly.  During the time that I was competitively body building I avoided running like the plague.  Building muscle and running long distances does not go together.  All the cardio strips my body of the muscle that I fought so hard to build.  Now, the goal is finish a half-marathon so the long-distance running is helping.  I still lift weights an average of 3 times per week in order to maintain the muscle but it is a battle.  It all evens out in the end.  I mean, my overall goal is a healthy body, and I’ve got that.