Training Rundown: 4/5-4/11

Happy Humpday! I’ve been gone at work the past two nights, so I can’t wait to come home and snuggle my puppy today 🥰Last week was a cut-back/taper week for my race, so it mainly consisted of all easy runs and I focused on recovery and sleep as much as possible. I also worked an extra shift last week (over 50 hours), so I had to get pretty creative with when I was able to fit my workouts in.

Monday, 4/5: Rest day

Tuesday, 4/6: Easy 60 minutes before work & 10 minutes of PT exercises

Wednesday, 4/7: Felt super exhausted, so skipped my morning run and opted for 20 minutes of yoga before bed.

Thursday, 4/8: Easy 30 minutes with 10 x :20 sec pick-ups and 10 minutes of Pilates before work

Friday, 4/9: Easy 30 minutes & 20 minutes of abs/ PT exercises

Saturday, 4/10: Easy 20 minutes & some stretching!

Sunday, 4/11: 26.2 miles! Race day!

Total miles: 40 miles

Training Rundown: 3/29-4/4

Happy Humpday! Only 2 more workdays in my week (I picked up an extra shift this week). I can’t believe I get to race in a LIVE race this weekend! Training has been going really well and I’m just so excited to have fun out there and be grateful for the opportunity.

Monday, 3/29: 45 minutes easy, 20 minutes of yoga, & 20 minutes of strength

Tuesday, 3/30: 10 min up/ 20 min @ 8:10/ 5 min @ 9:00/ 20 min @ 8:10/ 10 min down & PT exercises

Wednesday, 3/31: 30 minutes indoor trainer & 30 minutes of strength

Thursday, 4/1: 1:30 easy miles, 10 minutes of strength & 15 minutes of Pilates

Friday, 4/2: Rest Day

Saturday, 4/3: 1:15 easy miles

Sunday, 4/4: 7 miles (40 minutes around 8:05 pace) & 30 minutes of strength

Total Mileage: 34.25 miles

Training Rundown: 3/22-3/28

It’s been a few days 😅I ended up getting a head cold at the end of last week and then went into a 4-day work stretch and THEN we found a house! So, I’ve been a bit busy and blogging had to take a backseat, but I’m back! I had a solid training week and am heading into my taper already?!? I have no idea what time goal I should have for my race next week, but I know that I definitely want to STAY POSITIVE and HAVE FUN! I’ve missed racing so so much and cannot wait to just be able to pop a bib on again.

Monday, 3/22: 1 hour super easy & some stretching before a night shift

Tuesday, 3/23: 10 up/ 4 x 6min at 7:45/ 10 down & 15 minutes of PT exercises before another night shift

Wednesday, 3/24: 45 minutes easy & 30 minutes of strength

Thursday, 3/25: 5 miles easy/ 6 miles at 8:10/ 1 mile at 9:00/ 4 miles easy & 15 minutes of Pilates

Friday, 3/26: 1:10 minutes easy & 30 minutes of strength

Saturday, 3/27: Rest Day

Sunday, 3/28: Scheduled to do an hour of cross training, but woke up feeling super congested so decided to take another rest day plus had to work!

Total Miles: 37.73 miles

Training Rundown: 3/15-3/21

Humpday! I have a few days off before another 4-day work stretch, so am trying to savior the time off as much as possible. Last week I had a really long work week (was at the hospital everyday for 7 days straight), so training definitely took a backseat. I think I’ve gotten a lot better at stepping back from running when I recognize that I’ve got additional stress going on. It’s almost super important to realize and honor your body when you do have that additional stress (running and training is stress, but so is being on your feet at work all day). I’ve also gotten better at prioritizing sleep. Rather than getting up early to run/workout if I’m going to be getting less than 7 hours of sleep, I push my workout to later in the day. It’s no longer worth it (to me) to lack sleep or put additional stress on my body when I don’t really need to.

Monday, 3/15: 45 minutes easy & 30 minutes of yoga

Tuesday, 3/16: 10 min easy/ 4 x 7 min hard (3 min recovery)/ 10 min easy

Wednesday, 3/17: 1 hour easy & 35 minutes strength training

Thursday, 3/18: Rest Day

Friday, 3/19: 10 min up/ 20 minutes at 8:00; 5 at 9:00; 16 minutes at 8:00/ 6 minutes cool down and 30 minutes of strength. Finally got around to doing this run at 7pm (and did the run split-up between dinner). Sometimes, you just have to make it work. I immediately fell asleep on the couch at 9pm afterwards 😂

Saturday, 3/20: Rest Day again- saw a few potential homes (got out-bid on one that we put an offer on) & had lunch with Alex’s parents!

Sunday, 3/21: 4 mile walk outside & 1 hour of Pilates and yoga. Achilles felt a bit tight, decided to rest from a run and do extra stretching/ other stress-relieving activities

Total Mileage: 23.3 miles

Feature Friday: Why Racing Mindset Is So Important

Happy Friday! I picked up an overtime shift this week, so I worked last night (gotta save up for that house we’re trying to buy!) and am very much looking forward to lots of SLEEP this weekend. I recently hit my 2 year anniversary from running my strongest half marathon (not my PR) and wanted to share some tips that I learned from racing it (since hopefully we’ll get to race again REAL SOON!).

Mindset is 90% of race day. You’ve done the training, put in those longer runs, pushed your limits, and it’s now all in your head & heart to perform to your potential. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve raced and gotten into really terrible mindsets/ talked myself out of performing to the best of my ability. It’s the races where I’ve remained super positive and stuck on my goals that I’ve raced really well (for me).

It’s also much more challenging to keep your mind positive in longer races because you have more time to think (obviously). I still need to work on my mind during marathons, but feel like I’ve gotten much better at remaining positive in half marathons. The best 26.2s that I’ve had all included me smiling and enjoying the race basically the entire time.

I’d love to know what your favorite races were and WHY. Did you smile the entire time and what was your race mentality (did you even have one?)