Love Run Half Marathon Training Week 11 Recap

The Love Run Half Marathon is less than a week away!  I can’t believe my first big goal race of the year is here!

And so the training for the Love Run is almost at an end!  I’ve really enjoyed sharing my weekly training recaps with you.  I have two more of these to go until I move on to my next big race – the Buffalo Half Marathon!  I’ll tell you more about that in a couple of weeks!

I’m joining Courtney of Eat Pray Run DC for her Winter Training Recap linkup and HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap!  These are great ways to keep accountable and share your workouts with fellow fit-minded individuals!

[bctt tweet=”How is the @LOVERUNPHILLY Half Marathon almost here?! Check out my latest week of training! #runchat” username=”Janelle_RWNR”]

Weekly Wrap:  The Return of Winter and March Madness…

If it wasn’t bad enough that the weather was extremely cold at the Rock ‘N Roll DC Half Marathon, we also had to get hit with a big snowstorm last Tuesday into Wednesday Monday into Tuesday…my days are all mixed up!  There was some doubt to whether Philly would be hit with up to a foot of snow, but we got a few inches here and it was enough to make life pretty miserable!  I had the option to take a vacation day instead of going to work on Wednesday, but I decided to brave the weather and go to work.  Thankfully the conditions weren’t too bad and I was able to easily drive.  Working at the gas company, we don’t get snow days!

What’s one of the most frustrating things about this winter weather is how challenging it is to run outdoors.  I’m SO glad that I was able to get in one of my runs outside before the big storm!  The treadmill is a good backup, and I do have some tips on how to make the treadmill less miserable…but there’s nothing like getting to hit the trail!

The calm before the❄ “storm”…3 easy miles in the hood! I’m still recovering from the DC hills from Saturday’s half marathon so I took it pretty slow! And I’m still loving the UV half @buff_usa as my hair accessory on the run! I’ll have a review on the blog in a couple of days…stay tuned! #RWNR #bibravepro #cityfitgirls #runchat #trailrunning #halfmarathontraining

A post shared by Janelle (@runwithnoregrets) on Mar 13, 2017 at 3:30pm PDT

On a bright note, March Madness is in full swing!  I love this time of year, especially when I have a bracket on the line!  This year I joined a group with over 60 people and right now I’m in 2nd place…but I overplayed my hand with Villanova (who lost to Wisconsin, a team I absolutely love) so I’m not fully confident that I’ll be able to win in the long run!  March Madness can take up a LOT of time, so I’m trying not to get too consumed by it all…it can get pretty intense!  Do you watch college basketball?  Don’t forget I rounded up some great healthy snacks to enjoy the basketball games!

Workouts for the Week:

Monday 3/13:  3 easy miles.  It felt like such a relief to only have to run 3 miles, lol!  Surprisingly, I was still sore from Saturday’s half marathon, so I took it nice and slow on some hills in the neighborhood.

Tuesday 3/14:  Thanks to the wonderful Winter Storm Stella, my yoga class was canceled.  I ended up not doing any workouts.

Wednesday 3/15:  I had an extremely busy work day was feeling the effects of a head cold, coughing with sore throat…so I held off on my tempo run and got as much as rest as possible when I got home.

Thursday 3/16:  I finally went for my tempo run – 5 miles total with a warm up and cooldown in the 11-minute range.  The tempo pace was supposed to be 10:05-10:15, so I ran 10:10.  Since we had that lovely snowstorm, I was stuck with the treadmill.  Mentally, it was VERY tough, but I pushed through and didn’t have to take any breaks this time.  Seriously though…this was a kickass workout!

Friday 3/17:  Still trying to rest up!

Saturday 3/18:  8 miles.  What was going to be a normal run turned into a bit more of an adventure!  Instead of sticking to the sidewalks the entire run, we took a detour on Forbidden Drive, which was pretty much impassable since there was still lots and lots of untouched snow. It was SO beautiful and peaceful out there, but at a point, we just had to walk/trudge through it.  Once we left Forbidden Drive, I started running normally again for the last mile and a half.  Early in the run, my left calf was tightening up.  I was wearing my trail shoes for the first time so I don’t think it’s too much of a concern.

Sunday 3/19:  I went to barre class for the first time in several weeks (those darn vacations)!  It was great to be back but I definitely lost some fitness.  The lunges were tougher than usual, and the various types of planks were really tough on my core!  Still, I made it through with some very sore calves in the process, but it was so worth it!  I also bought some new leggings and socks for barre that were on sale so hopefully I’ll really start looking like a real “barre girl” LOL.

8 miles done this morning including some snowy miles along the Wissahickon. It was absolutely beautiful out there and I felt completely in tune with nature! Thankfully it wasn’t as cold as last weekend…just 8 days until the @loverunphilly half marathon! #sweatpink #halfmarathontraining #run215 #RWNR

A post shared by Janelle (@runwithnoregrets) on Mar 18, 2017 at 12:58pm PDT

Week 11 Report Card

Considering that I’m still fighting a cold, I’m really proud of how I was able to get through this past week.  Despite the weather and being sick, I got in 3 runs and some cross-training!  I’m grateful that I was able to get through it all in one piece…now can I hurry up and get healthy?  That would be great!

I’ll give Week 11 an A just because I didn’t make any excuses not to work out.  Let’s hope that I feel a lot better this week as I taper for the Love Run Half Marathon!

Did Stella blow through your town this past week?  How has your training been going? And how’s your bracket holding up?