Love Run Half Marathon Training Week 12 Recap

I had one heck of an active weekend…my body is ready for relaxation!

As you know, I’ve been training for the Love Run Half Marathon and the big race was on Sunday.  I’ll have a full recap posted this week so I hope you check it out!  I also participated in the Fight for Air Stair Climb on Saturday – 50 floors!  My quads need all the TLC they can get!

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!

Weekly Wrap: A Stair Climb and a Half Marathon!

ALA Fight for Air Climb 3/25

Saturday morning was the Fight for Air Climb in Center City Philadelphia.  I served as the Captain of my company’s team.  In the past, I’ve written full recaps of this event – 2014 and 2015, and I’ve been participating since 2009, so this event is always a good time.

Even though I’ve done this 50-floor stair climb so many times, I get nervous every year.  I hadn’t participated since 2015 (I was running the Cherry Blossom Run that same weekend last year) and this would be the first time in years that I was only going up the building once vs. doing the Century Climb.  You’d think that’d make me less stressed out…go figure!  My heart was actually racing in the moments leading up to the start!

Mark, Tom, and I were signed up as Elite Climbers (sub-12 minute), so we had an earlier start time than the rest of the team.  We were fortunate to have 11 members this year – the largest in a really long time!  It was a little chaotic getting started but before you knew it we were heading out the door and up the steps!  I let the guys go first because I was so nervous!

I decided to take things easy (considering my big half marathon the next day) but was determined to push through.  I had planned to listen to music during the climb but somehow my bluetooth turned off so I ended up carrying my belongings and headphones for no reason.  I always keep my head down to avoid knowing how many steps I climb.  Once I get to each 10-floor checkpoint, I cheer the volunteers and try to hype myself up.  As always, breathing gets difficult on the way up, but I was relieved that the stairs weren’t as crowded as they usually are.  I passed a few people along the way and a few passed me, but I felt pretty consistent.  I walked up every other step the entire way which was definitely a first…my quads were killing me!

But before you knew it, I was making my way to the top and to the crowd.  My finish time was almost 11 minutes flat.  Not bad at all!  But somehow, climbing up the stairs triggered something in my body so I was sneezing uncontrollably for the rest of the day and had a runny nose.  It was like allergies on steroids!  Ugh…

We stayed to watch the rest of our team climb and to cheer for them at the top of the steps.  Many of them were first-timers and just didn’t know what to expect, but they all ended up doing a fantastic job!  One of our climbers was able to finish in about 7:45 – crazy fast!  And they all said that they want to do it again next year, which makes me so happy!

It was great getting together with everyone and we were able to do an awesome job raising money for the American Lung Association, which is what it’s all about.  I don’t know why it seems that the event is getting smaller each year…people are missing out!

My fundraising page is online and we are still accepting donations up until June.  I’m still hoping to reach my $500 fundraising goal.  Thank you SO much for your support!

Love Run Half Marathon 3/26

I couldn’t resist but give you a little teaser from yesterday’s Love Run Half Marathon!  I just looked at my splits and I’m still in disbelief, lol!  As usual, I was nervous about how things would go but I was DETERMINED to get that 2:15.  I wanted it so badly and I realized that I’m a lot stronger than I knew, even being able to surpass that goal.  Not a PR, but pretty darn close!   And even better, I actually ENJOYED myself on this race!  Again, stay tuned for my full recap…you know it’ll be a long one, haha!

I will never forget this day and the @loverunphilly half marathon and I’m grateful that this happened in the city that has become my home. My goal for this year was to run a half in under 2:15. My official finish time was 2:11:08! I havent run this fast since my very first half #rnrphilly in 2011. Ive been hovering around 2:15-2:20 for years. I’m always nervous about whether I can maintain a faster pace for several miles…but the stars were clearly aligned and I had one of the best races I’ve EVER had. I felt amazing the entire way and I kept telling myself that this was the race when it was finally going to happen! I ended the race with tears in my eyes. I’m still so full of emotion and pride. The hard work is paying off! Thank you @thisrunnersrecipes for coaching me! Thank you all for encouraging me – shout out to @cityfitgirls giving me a boost 3 times before the finish! And congrats to all the runners today! #runhappy #runnersofinstagram #cityfitgirls #loverunphilly #run215 #halfmarathon #RWNR

A post shared by Janelle (@runwithnoregrets) on Mar 26, 2017 at 9:56am PDT

Workouts for the Week:

Monday 3/20:  Lunchtime yoga – quite a bit of balance work that kept me challenged!   After work, I had last bit of speed work- 4 x 5-minutes at 10:05-10:15 pace with 2 minutes of easy running and bookended with a warm up and cooldown.  This run was outside and I may have pushed myself harder than I needed to since my intervals were sub-10!

Tuesday 3/21:  Yoga after work.  I had a long day in the office and I was tempted to skip but I’m glad that I didn’t…I hadn’t been to class in weeks and I missed everyone!  I made sure to take all of the gentler modifications, though I did spend some time upside-down!

Wednesday 3/22:  3 mile run out on the neighborhood trail.  It was pretty cold out and it took a while to properly warm up, which is rare for me.  My right shin was also bothering me so I was a little bit worried that there was an issue.

Thursday 3/23:  Rest day!  This was a good thing since I spent nearly 12 hours at work getting things done.  What a long week!

Friday 3/24:   Last run before the race – 3 easy miles in my hood.  It was actually pretty relaxing running on a route I haven’t enjoyed in a long time!

Saturday 3/25:  The Fight for Air Stair Climb!

Sunday 3/26:  The Love Run Half Marathon!

Week 12 Report Card

I’m going to give my final week of training for the Love Run Half Marathon an A+!  Clearly, the hard work has paid off!  I’m so appreciative that you all have followed me these past several weeks as I make my way to this moment.

So what’s next?  My next goal race is the Buffalo Half Marathon on Memorial Day Weekend – and I already have my eye on the next round of training!  I can’t wait to get started!

How was your first weekend of spring?  Did you race this weekend – how did it go?