Half Marathon Training: Week 10

I finally mailed in my registration for the Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some goals and expectations for the run. I'd really like to run the entire distance without taking any walking breaks. This might be out of my reach given my experience this week, but I'd like to aim for between 2:24-2:37 (11-12 minutes/mile). This is my first real timed run, so I expect I'll learn a lot about pacing myself. The trick will be to not run so fast in the beginning that I'm too tired to run until the end, but also not to reserve so much energy that I still have fuel left at the end.

Monday The climbing wall is closed for spring break so I went to yoga instead. In my opinion, Tammi's class is the best whole body yoga workout at Cornell.

Tuesday So ridiculously sore and running 4.21 miles at 10'45" minutes per mile through the Plantations didn't help. However, it is really hard to say no to Michelle.

Wednesday Rest.

Thursday Michelle and I ran up Triphammer to Hanshaw Rd, came back to campus on Pleasant Grove Rd, did a loop around Beebe Lake, and then headed back to lab on Judd Falls and Tower Rd. It was raining and freezing cold (literally) by the time we got back. I did a total of 5.73 miles at a 11'21" minute per mile pace. Later that night, I caught the Cornell-Kentucky game. I like this quote from the New York Times via Amit that sums up so many things in life: "There is nothing tragic about attempting a great leap and falling short. The tragedy is not even trying."

Friday Rest.

Saturday 12 minute warmup on my bike followed by a 1-2-3-2-1 interval pyramid that I read about in some magazine. Basically, you do 1 minute fast-1 minute easy-2 minute fast-2 minute easy, and so on through the pyramid.

Sunday Michelle, Brian, Mel, Nori and I went for a long run in Ludlowville (another old biking route of mine). I did 13 miles in 3 hours and 7 minutes. I was so miserable and frustrated with my poor performance after this run that it actually brought me to tears. After having a late lunch and lots of water, I crawled into bed to recover for about 3 hours. I was too nauseous to cook dinner so I tempted myself to eat with a slice of pizza. Luckily, the root of my problem was easy to trace: dehydration. Apparently carrying one bottle of Gatorade while running simply isn't enough.

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Half Marathon Training: Week 10 (modified)
Week of 3/22/10 red=incomplete; green=completed

stretch & strengthen

5 run

3 m run or cross

5 m run + strength

rest

60 min cross

12 m run