Gettysburg Marathon Training : Week 6

Hi everyone!  Another week has come and gone and it was a really good one.  With the exception of one run (which I'll get into below and how I'll fix this going forward) I felt really good and I'm proud of my paces.  It's been really fun to see how much I'm growing this training cycle just by putting in hard work and staying consistent.  

Here's a look at my week in workouts.  I'm still doing daily yoga and a core workout twice a week!

Monday

Rest Day

I don't normally take Mondays off, but my legs were tired and it was FREEZING out in the morning.   In the evening I did my core workout and yoga video as usual.

Tuesday

4.25 miles / 9:24 pace

Snowy runs are the best..just look at that beautiful view!  I brought my YakTrax to work and ran along the river while it was snowing pretty hard.  It felt great out and this was a really good run!

Wednesday

6 miles / 8:22 pace

It was a really warm morning, so all of the snow from yesterday melted into an icy mess.  I decided to run on a different section of the river trail than usual (for locals- I went on the Jail Trail) which is flat and perfect for speed work.  Today's workout was 1 mile at 8:10, 1 mile at 7:50, rest and repeat.  My legs felt really heavy and tired, and slipping around on the ice didn't really help, but I somehow made it through this workout.

I had a realization during this run that I need to switch speed work to the afternoon.  I've been having bad workouts when I do it before work because I just don't feel ready to "go" when it's still dark out and I'm half asleep!  I had my best workout when I went in the afternoon, so now that it's staying light out later I'll just do these after work (or during lunch time) and see if that makes a difference.

Thursday

2.5 miles / 9:41 pace

Dan wanted to run, so I went for an easy run with him.  I normally take this day off, but it felt really good to get out for a few miles.  To top it off, it was warm and lightly raining which is my favorite running weather.

Friday

3 miles / 9:39 pace

Another easy run with Dan.  We went a little further and he was feeling good, so we picked up the pace a bit.  

Saturday

Rest Day

I stayed out pretty late (for me..party animal!) on Friday night with some friends, so I was happy to switch my long run to Sunday.  Dan and I spent the morning making our first bath of beer which took about 3 hours.  It was really fun and we celebrated with a bottle of Yuengling afterwards.  A little later, I met up with Jessie for some food and drinks!  Luckily I got home earlier than Friday night so I could get a good night of sleep.

Sunday

12 miles / 9:06 pace

I headed out to North Park for my long run and it was a perfect day!  The weather was mild without much wind or sun.  I listened to some tennis podcasts to get ready for the Australian Open and really enjoyed the run.  I kept my pace easy and steady for the first lap (5 miles) then picked it up steadily for the second lap.  For the final two miles I picked up the pace to half marathon goal at 8:00 and it felt really good!

Anyone else following the Australian Open?

What do you like to listen to during long runs?

Who else is doing Yoga Revolution?