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This is the next to last week of training, it is hard to believe that it is finally here! This was a cold week weather-wise, but we missed out on some of the worst of it. North of us got slammed really bad. This is kind of a taper week although not by much really. Overall I am feeling healthier although the mucus is still lingering around.

Monday – Run 6 x 1600 meter repeats at 10K pace. Recover between the repeats with 400 meters at an easy pace. Cool down with 800 meters at an easy pace. I only did 4 intervals and I also did 800 meter rest (just because I used an old program in the Garmin). My thought process was that I wanted to run them but I also wanted to help my body to not get sick(er). Part of me thinks I would have been better off just running the equivalent distance since my times weren’t that impressive. My 10K pace is about 6:30 and none of them were even close, only the first interval was under 7. It was in the mid-30’s when I ran without much wind so it was pretty decent conditions. My splits were 6:59, 7:07, 7:27, and 7:25. I think if I start using a track that they might come down some…

Tuesday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I did 4 easy miles on the Midtown Greenway. I was a little sluggish after yesterday’s workout but nothing major. It was in the mid-30’s again without a lot of wind, so that felt pretty good. I did the 4 miles in 32:23. I tacked on a couple of accelerations at the end.

Wednesday – Run 20 minutes alternating between 30 seconds at 20 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace and 30 seconds at goal half marathon pace. Cool down with 5 minutes at an easy pace. I did this one on the Greenway as well. You may recall similar workouts but this one is a little different since you don’t actually get a recovery on the “off 30 seconds”, it is slower but still kinda fast. I tried to run each “hard” interval all out but know that I definitely didn’t succeed, just like I didn’t run the “off” intervals at goal pace. It is fun to sprint for 30 seconds though, I like the feeling of speed! The total distance was 4.58 miles in 35:14.

Thursday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I just ran this one around the neighborhood. It was in the mid-30’s but had a significant wind-chill. I just took it easy for the run and did 4 in 33:05.

Friday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I had to leave pretty early in the morning for a training so I didn’t run but had planned all along in my head to run in the afternoon. It was miserable weather throughout the day though. In the low-30’s with a “wintry mix” of rain, slush, sleet, and snow. We even had some thunderstorms rumble through Thursday night.

Saturday – Run 4 miles at an easy pace, the speed up to goal half marathon pace for 6 miles. Cool down with 1 mile at an easy pace. I was a little shocked that they wanted me to run 11 miles the week before the race. I tentatively planned to run about 8 just to get some solid mileage in. A group of guys I’ve run with some was doing 12 (before their trip to Boston) so I thought I’d go with them. I assumed from where we were meeting that there’d be opportunities to drop out if I needed to or wanted to! The plan was that I would just see how I felt and try to run most of it with them. We were at a bridge at 7 miles that would let me back across the Mississippi and would put my run right around 8. We stopped for a traffic light and I said – I’m heading back. So I ended up running 8.5 (7 with them) which felt pretty good. We weren’t pushing the pace at all but it was definitely my fastest average pace run of the week. So 8.5 miles in 1:05:45.

Sunday – Rest Day! And on the seventh day I rested!

Total Mileage – 28.3 miles in 3:44:37

[tags] Half Marathon, Training [/tags]