Rock ‘N Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon Training Week 4

This was a pretty tough week of training for me, probably the toughest that I’ve had all year.  But I did my best, as I continue to prepare for the Rock ‘n Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon!

Once again, I’m joining Hoho and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap!  It’s such a great linkup where dozens of awesome running and healthy living bloggers participate and share what’s going on in their active lives each week!  Madhuri from Ponder ‘N’ Wonder is this week’s guest host!

I’m also joining Courtney for her Weekly Training Linkup!  Check it out and see all of the races fellow bloggers are training for!

[bctt tweet=”Half marathon training on my birthday weekend – check out the recap! #weeklywrap #runchat” username=”Janelle_RWNR”]

Weekly Wrap:  Birthday Weekend Recap

I had an absolutely wonderful birthday week!  Honestly, I am “too old” to make my birthday a big deal, but I have to admit that I had several celebrations for the occasion and it was lovely.

Birthday Happy Hour

To kick off my birthday weekend, I hosted a Happy Hour and invited several co-workers and friends.  Little did I know that over 20 people would come out and celebrate with me!  I really wish that I had more pictures, but the turnout gave me so much joy and I was happy that my friends enjoyed the space, a brand new spot in Northern Liberties with great food and drinks.

Back in the day, I was known as the “Happy Hour Queen”.  Well, it was nice to be back on my throne, haha!  Sometimes I feel like I don’t have any friends, but I have to admit I’ve been pretty MIA since we bought our house a year ago.  It was great to see everyone and I hope we can do it again in the fall!

Weekend in Bucks County

It’s been a crazy summer and so busy, but thankfully I was able to get the day off on my birthday and plan a weekend getaway with Bret.  Sure, we were just in Kansas City/Nebraska the previous weekend, but that was a whirlwind of a trip.  This time, we had time to relax and even sleep in!

Before we hit the road, I went for breakfast with my mentor/shero Jo.  We had a great time talking about my career and of course running!  I had the most massive pancakes, haha, and they even brought out a candle with my mimosa.  We had a wonderful time.

Once I came home I had to pack (I know, I know) we were soon headed to New Hope, PA, which is only about an hour away, but the perfect weekend getaway!  We stayed at a local B&B (which unfortunately didn’t live up to the hype, especially for the cost) and made relaxation our priority!  We went out to Marsha Brown’s for dinner and I had a delicious surf and turf.  We got a lot of food including a huge slab of the thickest bacon I’ve ever seen, and ended with carrot cake for dessert…yum!

Saturday was a busy day starting with the long run (from hell), and then continuing on with a wine tour through Bucks County.  We had a great time and bought 4 bottles!  Bret also found a place for minigolf that was seriously the nicest place I’ve ever seen, they even had 2 courses!  I lost, but we had a blast!

Sadly, Sunday came before I knew it but we had one last run before preparing to go home, which was absolutely gorgeous, scenic, and thankfully a lot speedier!  The best part of the day was getting some of the best ice cream I’ve had in a long time!  It was expensive, but it was worth it!  Then we were heading back on the road to Philly…back to reality.

Sunday Cookout

And just when I would have loved to be a sloth and do nothing the rest of the day, we went to NSBE’s annual cookout, which was thankfully right in my neighborhood.  We had many new faces of engineers and their family/friends participate and we were able to talk to them about our upcoming programming of the year.  The food was great.  I made my “famous” tuna salad and was happy not to bring any back home!

Workouts for the Week

Monday 8/14:  Rest day.

Tuesday 8/15:  4 miles in the evening on a day where I was feeling pretty crappy, but fartlek runs always get me excited!  10-minute warmup followed by 6 repeats of 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, then cooldown to 4 miles.  I felt strong on this run.

Wednesday 8/16:  About 25 minutes of strength training during a conference call, lol.  15 squats, 10 single leg deadlifts per leg (I suck at these), 15 glute bridges, 12 pushups, 60 second plank, 30 second side planks, 15 clamshells, 12 bird dogs.

Thursday 8/17:  It was Happy Hour day…enough said, lol.

Friday 8/18:  My birthday!  4 miles starting in New Hope, PA and then running over the bridge to Lambertsville, NJ along the Delaware River.  The weather was extremely humid so this was a real struggle.  We also had some ducks and a protective “mother goose” blocking part of our path…it was actually pretty scary and funny as we tried to get away!

Saturday 8/19:  Long run day.  The plan was 9 miles, and I just couldn’t finish.  My pace was SLOW…slower than it’s been in ages.  My HR was ridiculously high and since I was running with Bret, I was really holding him back as he’d try not to get too far ahead of me.  Ended up with 6.3.  Peace Valley Park is beautiful, but it was torture!

Sunday 8/20:  Finally another solid run, easy 4 miles along the Delaware Towpath.  It felt effortless – it didn’t hurt that it was 10 degrees cooler and much less humid! Before going to bed, I did my Runner’s Knee prevention exercises including clamshells, bridges, and side planks.

Long run Saturday and despite the smile, I was far short on my 9 miler and had to stop at 6. Toughest long run I’ve had this training cycle. Peace Valley Park is absolutely beautiful but starting our run at 10 probably wasnt the best idea…the sun was bright and the miles were super slow and felt endless. I did my best riding the struggle bus…but hey, at least my @buff_usa Pack Run Cap did its job shielding me from the sun! #RWNR #bibchat #buffusa #halfmarathontraining #summerrunning #instarunner #bibravepro #sweatpink

A post shared by Janelle (@runwithnoregrets) on Aug 19, 2017 at 9:57am PDT

Week 4 Report Card

It was another really busy week and I want to focus on the positive.  I got in all of my runs and did my best despite some really hot and humid weather.  I was probably overdue for some really tough runs this summer, so I can’t complain too much.  The only thing is that since my long run was also short the week before, I really need to step it up moving forward.

I’m glad I did my strength training workout and my Runner’s Knee prevention exercises.  I wish I could have taken a barre and/or yoga class but I just didn’t have enough time.  So for Week 4, I’ll have to give myself another B- grade.

How was your weekend?  What’s your favorite dish to bring to a cookout?