Gretch Runs

All of a sudden, it's the halfway point of training!  I can't believe it, but it's been going really well so far.  I've cut back on running miles compared to other cycles, but I've also added a lot more cross training.  I think it's really helping, and I'm feeling stronger than ever! Here's how my week of training went- Monday Rest Day Planned on running and /or going to Beat, but I started feeling really sick when I got home.  A bug was going around at work, so I decided to just get in some extra rest. Tuesday 3 miles Felt much better when I woke up, so after work I headed to the park to run and walk with Selma and Dan!  It was a beautiful, sunny day and the park was filled with dogs.  We stayed mostly on trails, which was great. Wednesday 7 miles Speed workout for the week was 8 x 800 at half marathon pace.  Jessie and I met after work at a local track to get it done.  Our watches were both really off from eachother and from

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a great weekend, and got to enjoy St Patrick's Day!  I definitely did, and also had a great week of training.  Here's how week four went- only six more weeks of training to go! Monday 1 mile / 9:35 I had a busy day, but Dan and I managed to squeeze in a short run together.  It was windy and cold so neither one of us really wanted to run, but we got it done! Tuesday 7 miles / 8:54 pace Speed work day, a little earlier this week!  In the Kara Goucher plan, this is always one of my love it/hate it workouts.  It's called ice cream sandwich, and the goal is 2 miles at 15 seconds over race pace, 6 hill repeats, then another 2 miles at 15 seconds over race pace.  Since my goal pace is 8:20, I was planning on sticking around 8:35 pace.  Well, that immediately went out the window because I felt GREAT, and the weather was perfect!  My average paces ended up being 8:12 for the first two and 7:53 for the second two.  The hills were

Hard to believe, but I'm now three weeks in to training for my next half marathon!  This was one of my most fun and diverse weeks of workouts that I ever had- it definitely wasn't a high mileage week, but I tried out so many different workouts and it was so great!  We also were blessed with some amazing temperatures, and I hope that means spring will be making its debut soon.  Here's how my week went! Monday 5 miles / 9:35 pace Cold run, but the sky looked incredible and there was a bit of sun!  I did a few loops around the pool by my house and got back to my car at around 4.65 miles, so of course I had to keep going to get to 5 of course! Tuesday Rest Day! Wednesday 5 miles / 8:49 pace I worked from home, so I was able to get in my workout during lunch.  The goal for this week's speed work was tempo- 3 miles at 8:40 sandwiched between a warm up and cool down.  It was a really chilly day and I just wanted to finish quickly, so I ended up a littl

I might sound like a broken record at this point, but hello from snowy Pittsburgh!  We got another 6 inches of snow last, so it looks like this upcoming week will be interesting in terms of training.  On a plus, last week was a great week and I crushed a few key workouts.  Here's how it went! Monday 3.6 miles / 9:43 Nice  and easy loop around my neighborhood as usual!  It was chilly but sunny out, so it actually felt really nice.  There were a lot of people out enjoying the sun as well. Tuesday Rest Day! I was originally planning on going to Beat Fitness, but Dan sent me a text and said he wanted to hang out.  So, we went to happy hour at BJ's and watched Free Solo instead! Wednesday 5.4 miles / 9:08 pace First official speed workout complete!  I met up with Jessie for the run after work, and Dan even joined us for the warmup.  We did 1 mile warmup, followed by 3x1 mile with a 20 second jog in between miles and a mile cool down.  The goal was to be between