GHS Swamp Rabbit Half Marathon Training - Week 4 of 12

Miles run this week: 26.1

Training Plan vs. Actual

Monday - Xmas Holiday
10mi bike ride + 1mi run 
#RWRunStreak day 33/39 
Scott and I biked with D in the trailer down to the Upstate Craft Beer Co. First Anniversary celebration. My parents drove our car down so we didn't have to ride back as there was rain in the forecast. Just 10 miles on the Swamp Rabbit Trail at a casual pace.
 
Tuesday – #10kTuesday
#RWRunStreak Day 34/39 
Outside today in the oddly warm (~60F) weather. It was cloudy with a slight breeze which made it nice to run in just shorts and a t-shirt. Weird though. I also wore my new Fitbit Flex 2 for the first time and hit 10k steps right around mile 6, which was exciting. I've missed step tracking, even though it drives Scott batty. ;) Didn't have a goal pace for today, ended up with 8:45/mi average moving pace. Pretty pleased with that, especially since I was feeling crappy (feverish, sore throat) yesterday afternoon and evening. I tried to force myself to take it slow on the first mile (9:38) and then let myself run free the rest of the time (8:40, 8:36, 8:29, 8:53, 8:27) - shockingly consistent.

Wednesday – Vacation Day 
Mountain Bike at Dupont + trail run 
#RWRunStreak day 35/39 
Scott and I took our last vacation day of 2016 and went mountain biking at DuPont State Forest. We rode a lovely 18 mile loop with almost 2,000 ft of elevation gain. After we finished that portion of the ride, Scott split off to do some more miles while I did a couple miles running on the trails to maintain my #RWRunStreak. Legs were definitely tired by that point!

Thursday – #speedworkThursday
35 minute Tempo 
#RWRunStreak day 36/39 
I'd planned to run on the treadmill today due to forecast of rain and cold, but turned out to be warm and sunny, so I took the tempo run outside. My plan was to do ~1mi warmup, tempo progression at 9:00/8:30/8:00 pace, peak with a couple minutes at 7:30, then cooldown.
Actual breakdown of splits:

Looks like I was trying a bit too hard to hold back on the first couple of splits so I missed the mark there, but still happy that I ended up with a nice progression of pace. My peak split was almost right on! I'm hoping I can keep honing my personal pace perception.

Friday - strength
2mi easy treadmill run for #RWRunStreak day 37/39
Strength training
Hopped on the treadmill for a warm-up and did 2 miles at an easy 9/mi pace. Followed up with strength training, mostly bodyweight exercises (core, pushups, pullups) plus some kettlebell swings.

Saturday - Group Run 
Plan: 11 miles - check!
#RWRunStreak day 38/39
Met up with Tom & Debby at Tandem Creperie for an 11-mile out-and-back on the Swamp Rabbit before joining up with others for brunch. We had a ~9ish pace in mind but just ran what was comfortable. Turns out our "comfortable" was a good bit quicker than 9! All but one split was sub-9, and even the one that wasn't was a 9:02. Overall average moving pace was 8:38. Super way to end the year of 2016 running!

Happy group for brunch!

Sunday - trail run rest
#RWRunStreak day 39/39 - crap!
Plan for a nice trail run at Bent Creek was foiled by a pukey baby. We were about 10 minutes out from the house when D started throwing up allllll of his breakfast in the backseat. So we U-turned and high-tailed it home to hose down the carseat and give poor guy a bath. He seemed completely fine once we got him cleaned up, but our window between rain showers looked like it had passed so we had to forego the stop at Bent Creek on our way to spend the afternoon in Western NC. I'd forgotten that the #RWRunStreak included New Year's Day, so it looks like I missed the streak by one (the FINAL) day. Womp womp. The rest day was good, though, given the effort of the faster-than-planned long run the day before.