Monday and Tuesday - I did nothing. Seriously fail. I feel like I had reasons, but I have no idea what they are now.
Wednesday - First ever speed training session. It was way more fun than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed it. I did my first half mile repeat at 4:21. WAY faster than I thought I could run. (And, way too fast for the first lap of the night.) It wound up being a good night. I used the Virtual Partner on my Garmin for the first time ever, making sure I stayed at the pace I was supposed to. Did four miles total, average pace of 10:24. Not bad for my first time around.
Thursday and Friday - Fail again. Seriously ridiculous. Why did I do nothing? Well, in reality its because I've been getting this weird pain in my right quad. It's totally random and I've been referring to it as the "phantom pain." I don't know what the hell its all about. I'm doing everything right, and it only happens sometimes. Phantom.
Saturday - Team in Training practice at Balboa park. It was supposed to be 18 miles for Alaska full marathoners. I was going to try to do 10, and it was a perfect, lovely day for a run. But, I was smart and stopped after 5 miles. I knew that I'd regret it the next day. Finished in 55 minutes for a 10:41 pace. I'm clearly getting faster. Yay! After practice I headed over to Pasadena to the marathon expo to pick up my bib for the half marathon the next day. I then went home and got ready for a birthday party scavenger hunt in Playa del Rey that evening (not necessarily the best idea to go to a party the night before a race, but I wanted to go, and I wasn't concerned with getting a PR at the marathon, so off I went).
Sunday - Ugh, 4:15am alarm went off. I had a moment when I thought about turning off the alarm and going back to sleep. Why on earth did I think waking up at 4:15am on my birthday was going to be a good idea?!? But, I did. I got up and got ready to go run 13.1 miles. My friends Susie and Amanda came and met me and we carpooled over to Pasadena. I decided I was not going to run super hard and try to PR, I wanted to enjoy myself, and I knew the best way to do that would be to run with Amanda. She is always entertaining and I knew it would make the race so much more fun if I stayed with her. (I'll post a full recap of Pasadena tomorrow.) I finished the race in 2:45, exactly the same time as I ran OC two weeks ago. Pace was 12:28. It was a fun day, even in the rain. More soon.
So... back to my question at the beginning. Am I ready? Kind of. I just need to work hard for the next few weeks. I put in 18 miles this weekend, and, while I'm sore today, I know that I can do this. Alaska, I'm coming to get you!
Back on track this week.... Must run tonight, since I went to Disneyland yesterday to celebrate my birthday and didn't run.
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You are on your way!! Great job with you half finish!!! You are going to rock Alaska!!
ReplyDeleteHow nice it must have been to spend your birthday at Disneyland!! So fun!