Rock ‘N Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon Training Week 6

Happy Labor Day!  I hope you are enjoying the start of September!  I hope it goes as slowly as possible because I love the fall and want it to last as long as possible!  Training for the Rock ‘n Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon continues and I had a really strong week!

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! Montana from Pretty Lil Mudder 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=”Happy Labor Day! How have your workouts been going? #runchat #weeklywrap” username=”Janelle_RWNR”]

Weekly Wrap:  Labor Day Weekend

I have been having the most relaxing time this Labor Day Weekend.  While I know many folks went away on vacation, for me, it was wonderful to be able to stay home and do as little work as possible!  Work has been extremely busy and stressful the last couple of weeks, and I’m only at the tip of the iceberg, so it was good to get this time to decompress and not have to deal with people who annoy me, lol.

On Friday night we went to a cool event called Parks on Tap – it’s a traveling beer garden that has been making its way to parks all around the city of Philadelphia.  It was a really nice setup with great beers, a food truck, DJ, and even some hammocks for lounging.  This event was held at a local park that I didn’t even know existed, so it’s a nice way to get to know our neighborhood better.

Saturday kicked off with college football and we are part of the Husker Nation, in case you didn’t know!  Bret was very excited to have the first of many game days to enjoy Nebraska football, and it was great to see them win.  Bret made some delicious wings, brats, and pineapple on the grill, and both of our families made some tasty side dishes to enjoy.  The weather has been much cooler the past few days, so it’s really starting to feel like fall and I say bring it on!

We are probably also going to do some burgers and chicken on the grill today (Monday).  We’ve had a lot of rain all weekend, so I’m hoping that today we get some nice sunshine and can spend some more time outside!  I’m still in denial that it’s back to work tomorrow…sigh!

Workouts for the Week

Monday 8/28:  Rest day!  My legs were still feeling pretty tight from my 8.5 miler, so I made sure to use the roller and stretch my calves!

Tuesday 8/29:  It was raining ALL DAY, so I moved my runs around and did some strength training indoors.  15 squats, 10 single leg deadlifts per leg (always so hard), 15 bridges, 12 pushups, 60-second plank, 30-second side planks, 15 clamshells on each side, 12 bird dogs.

Wednesday 8/30:  Ran a 4-mile progression run.  The last mile was supposed to be done at a comfortably hard pace and it ended up being about 9:19 – I was really surprised!

Thursday 8/31:  Finally had my tempo run!  Because there was a BBQ that my company’s tech association hosted, I decided to run on the treadmill right after work then head over for some eats.  This was mentally a really tough run and I was pretty nervous about how it would go. Ten minute warmup followed by 3 x 1 mile(!) at 9:00-9:10 pace with 1-minute rest in between, then finishing out to 5 miles.  I set the treadmill at 9:05 for the tempo intervals.  I don’t know how I did it, but it was really tough!  What was annoying was that I wore my Garmin and the paces were way off…it said I was going around 9:40 when I was set at 9:05.  I ended up doing 5.10 on the treadmill but it only read as 4.99 on my watch.  I guess this is normal?  It just really threw me off.

Friday 9/1:  I had yoga on the calendar but I didn’t do any workouts.

Saturday 9/2:  Time for the long run!  I had 10 miles to tackle.  At first I thought I’d be a bit nervous for my first double-digit run in a couple of months, but I felt strong and confident the entire way.  I felt like I could have gone at least another mile or two…that’s rare!  The only problem is that at various points of the run, my knees were killing me.  So that is definitely something I worry about!

Sunday 9/3:  Started off the morning with barre class.  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been to the Sunday class, and boy was it tough!  So many exercises that had my hips burning: lunges, resistance band work, and leg raises at the barre.  Shortly after that, Bret and I went out for 4 miles.  He wanted to run to the track, so we ran there and as soon as we set off, it started to rain.  I did a couple of 400’s, I believe he did a 400 and an 800 at a minimum.  It was pouring rain at this point so I didn’t want to spend too much time out there.   By the time we finished up 4 miles, it stopped raining…go figure!  Overall, it was a fun run!

Earlier this morning – went to a killer barre class that had my hips begging for mercy lol, then followed up with a run with Bret with a quick stop at the track. Just as we were getting started, it started to rain. At first I was grumpy about it, but then I came to my senses and embraced the weather! Ran to the track, did 3×400 with a not too hard effort, then ran home. If you’ve never run in the rain, give it a chance! It’s thrilling! Hope you’re having a great weekend! #RWNR #run215 #sweatpink #runchat #rainydays #halfmarathontraining

A post shared by Janelle (@runwithnoregrets) on Sep 3, 2017 at 2:54pm PDT

Week 6 Report Card

I’m extremely pleased with this past week of half marathon training.  All of my runs went well, and while I’m a little nervous about shin and knee issues, I am putting in the work to strengthen and loosen the tightness in my muscles.  Coach Laura seems to be happy with how I’ve been doing, and since I’m only 6 weeks in my training, I’m really excited to see how much more I can improve before my goal race!  This week gets an A grade!

And don’t forget, tomorrow is Tunes Tuesday!  The theme for September is pump up jams!  I hope you will join Steff, Kim, and me and share some of your favorite songs to workout or run!  You have the entire month to link up with us!