Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Training For the Holiday Half




Shortly after I returned home from San Francisco, I caught the running bug, and signed up for another half marathon before I travel back to New York for the holidays.  This one is called the Holiday Half, and it takes place in North Portland, along the Willamette River, starting at adidas America headquarters.

The date is Sunday, December 14th, which has given me enough time to ramp back up in my training before race day.  This half will definitely be easier than the Nike Women's...the elevations are incomparable.  My goal is to PR.

Last week my running was hindered by a strong, windy cold front from Canada.  I never thought I'd say that I miss running in the summer,  but with the daylight quickly fading, I "had it easy" training for SF back in the sunny Pacific Northwest months.  Monday, I decided to run my four easy miles on the treadmill at my apartment complex.  Little did I know that Tuesday, instead of running my 9-mile interval run on the track like I had planned, I would yet again be stuck inside on the treadmill.  I was determined to have some fun battling through the 50-60mph gusts of wind...until I came home to three trees fallen down in our apartment complex.  Trees and power lines were down all over the metro area, and so I decided against running outside for my own personal safety.  9 miles on a treadmill is NOT exciting.  I started off with a 2-mile warmup, and was already bored...but then focused my attention to the .75-mile intervals at a 9min-per-mile pace with .25 mile at a 9:30min-per-mile pace in between the speed intervals.  Not too tired at the end, and made sure to really stretch out my hips when I finished the workout.

Thursday during the day I spent some time on the elliptical, as sleet and snow fell and prevented me from commuting in to the office that day.  The sidewalks were too slippery to venture outside, preventing me from being able to enjoy the breezy winter air!  Temperatures were getting down to 30 degrees, and I really felt like I was back at home in Northern NY.

On Friday after work, I ran an easy four miles around my neighborhood, finally acclimating myself to cold-weather running once again.  I ran in a sweatshirt for the first time since last winter!  It was harder than expected, not being able to fully extend my stride with the cold temps.  I took shorter, quicker strides to keep on pace, but went easy as this was a warmup for Saturday's long run.

My training schedule extends my mileage towards 13 miles by increasing 1 mile each Saturday, peaking at 13 miles two weeks prior to the race day.  I felt this worked very well prior to Nike Women's SF, and decided to keep this style of training for the Holiday Half.  I ventured off my normal route and planned out a figure-8 pattern on mapmyrun.com, which is a helpful tool that allows you to plot a route on a map and figure out distance.

Saturday was an 11-mile run, and with the days getting shorter, half of it ended up being in the sunlight, and half of it in the dark.  As I started out on one of my older loops that I haven't run in awhile, I noticed that there was still snow on the ground in certain areas of town that hadn't quite warmed up yet since Thursday!  It's funny how snow and temperature works like that.  I kept a good 9:15-9:30 per mile pace, taking shorter strides so that I wouldn't pull a muscle.  Despite my body being "warmed up," my skin was still cold to the touch.  For my next Saturday run, I have made a mental note to remember to wear my fleece-lined leggings!

The end of the figure-8 was one of my regular routes, and it was a bit difficult to see the sidewalk in the dark, which made me nervous because of the chance of ice.  However, everything went smoothly!  I definitely slowed my pace down to about 9:45 per mile near the end, as the temperatures were dropping and my body is still not fully acclimated to the weather.  As much as I love to finish strong, nothing is worth an injury.

After my run, I made sure to refuel with some chocolate milk and take a nice, hot shower.  Running is just as much about recovery as it is about actual running!  Next week (technically later this week, since I'm posting this on Wednesday) I build up to a 12-mile Saturday run, which a few speed workouts thrown in as well.  It doesn't seem like the end of November, but race day is quickly approaching, and I'm as excited as ever!



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