Week 9: Halfway There

First of all, big congrats to Andi, who ran her first marathon last (last) weekend! It is so satisfying to follow along with a friend's training from start to finish, and to watch her achieve her goal. I'm excited to see what she does next!

So what's up with my training? Since I had a half marathon on Sunday of Week 9, I decided to sorta kinda taper this week. My training plan didn't incorporate a half marathon, so I had to wing it. Tapering is a complete mystery. I did my speedwork as usual, but skipped my tempo run, then took an extra day off and reduced my mileage in the days before the race.

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
9	5 easy	6 (speed - 5x1000)	off	4 easy	off	3 easy	13.1 (race)	31

My goal for the race was to run under 2:00, and I think I might have done that on a flatter course. The Chilly Half Marathon had almost 800' of elevation gain, and I missed my goal by 1:15. My time was still a PR (by over 5 minutes!) so I'm happy. The hills were mainly in the second half of the race, and I ran about a two minute positive split. Had I run even splits, I would have cracked 2:00. I can't wait for next time!

This week, I'm trying to get back on schedule as soon as possible. I ran yesterday (the day after the half), but my ankle tendons were cranky, so I took today off. I'm planning to run 7 tomorrow, and then resume with my tempo run on Thursday. My long run this weekend is only 10 miles! This low mileage plan is starting to sound really nutty to me, but I like the fact that I'm not injured, so I'm going to stick with it.