This is the recap of Week 9 of Mo’ Cowbell Half Marathon training. I had a really nice week of training this week, however I ended up not running my 5k race on Saturday. I’m kind of glad, because I actually got to spend the morning in bed with my family watching cartoons and then we made pancakes and had a nice breakfast, before a day date to Paducah. I probably would have been exhausted with the driving and back and forth.
Also, I have decided to stop including my heart rate data and also decided to stop focusing on that during my run. I just don’t want to have “rules.” I want to just run freely. No one needs another metric to be trying to follow when they just want to go on a run.
Monday
4.81 miles @ 9:35 pace
Since I didn’t get my workout in last week, I ended up mid run thinking “let’s go ahead and see what I can do.” This was right after I hit 1 mile and decided to call that a warmup.
- 10:33
- 9:35
- 8:50
- 8:47
- 10:22
I didn’t look at my watch for the 3 miles that I was pushing for and really thought I was flying. I got home and checked my splits and just laughed. This was the point I decided to stop focusing on HR zone 2 and just have fun and run. I just felt that I need more quicker runs in there that aren’t structured speed workouts. I will still keep my recovery runs easy but I can’t have all my runs be that way because I just feel like I’m struggling to pick it up when I need to.
Tuesday
3 miles @ 10:58 pace
Started off on the treadmill and after 1 mile decided to go outside and run. I’m really struggling with the treadmill these past few weeks.
- 11:30
- 10:57
- 10:51
Wednesday
4.1 miles @ 10:39 pace
Birthday run!!! I thought of just doing 3.3 to celebrate my birthday but I was having a good time and went longer.
- 10:53
- 10:33
- 10:41
- 10:35
- 9:58 (.1)
Thursday
Evening family walk – 1.2 miles
Friday
off
Saturday
Was supposed to have a 5k race but we had thunderstorms when I woke up and a watch for the next few hours. I didn’t want to drive all the way to the race for it to get canceled nor did I want to run in a thunderstorm. Thought the idea of a slow morning sounded better.
Sunday
8 miles @ 9:44 pace
My first run where I just ran freely without looking at my heart rate, pace etc. It was really humid and muggy. I knew before my first mile that it was going to be an interesting run. Ran out of fluid early, so may need to take my vest until it cools off. I wish they had water fountains along my route, or I thought of going into McDonalds and asking to fill up my handheld.
- 10:08
- 9:45
- 10:01
- 9:53
- 9:26
- 9:19
- 9:34
- 9:44
I think my long run ramps up from here. This will be my first half marathon training where I end up running more than 9-10 mile long runs. I think the most I have planned is 12, so I’ll be easing in with some 10’s and 11’s in the next couple of weeks. Can’t believe we are getting close to race day.
ICYMI – I posted my review of the Chirp Wheels earlier today, feel free to check it out!
