First Week....DONE!

Done my first official week of half-marathon training.  Made one mistake - thinking Friday was a cross-training day, not a rest day...so did a 8.5k walk that I didn't need to do...  But oh well...

Struggled through both the Thursday and the Saturday run, though.... Began to suspect that perhaps working out hard in the gym 5x/week in addition to the running and cross-training required by our program might be a bit much.... So, I consulted the experts....on Twitter...I mean, where else would you find experts when you live in a small town with no real obvious experts to consult?  One of them is author and Runners World contributor, Bart Yasso - so, really....he knows his stuff.

So, the consensus of my Twitter experts was a resounding YES....I am doing too much :(  Both said circuit training 1x/week is the most I should be doing (that was before I fessed up to the spin class starting this week).  Soooo....I am not willing to give up my workouts entirely....but I am going to give in a little.  Monday and Friday's are official rest days...I am going to only do some stretching and core work those days and Wednesdays.  Running will be Tuesday/Wednesday, Saturday/Sunday.  On Tuesday and Thursday (likely??) I will workout in the gym....but primarily on upper body.  Thursday I will also do spin class (which is my official cross-training day, anyway).  Hopefully taking it easy 3x/week at lunch will help my body to better deal with the training to come....and perhaps will let my groin issues improve somewhat as well.

Next weekend is supposed to be an 8k run on Saturday and a 4k easy run Sunday...However, we're signed up for a 10k in Creston on Sunday...so the 4k will be Saturday, the 10k Sunday....and then after that...I should be able to stay on schedule...hopefully!

Hurry up December!  I'm ready for this to be done already!  The half-marathon is taking over my life!

Training commences....

We'll it's official...I am midway through the first week of half-marathon training.  Have to say...pretty anti-climatic so far.  Only one run completed at this point...and it was a 5k...much like every other early morning 5k we've been doing all along.  Won't be long before we're amp-ing up, however....so I should be grateful for the familiar while it exists...

Not doing so well with the whole 'rest' concept, however.  Monday was actually a rest day.  No running, no cross training... Yet, I spent my lunch hour doing squat jumps, plie squats, walking lunges, rowing machine, a bunch of core stability exercises and sprints on the treadmill.  Hmmm...perhaps not what was intended by the word "rest".  Oh well...will likely do the same next week.  And though I will be spending my lunch hour doing a different circuit training workout today...I'll also try to figure out 30-40 minutes of cardio to do...Because today is cross-training day :)

Running 6.5k after work tomorrow then another 6.5k on Saturday (sooo relaxed after a summer of 10k's) and an easy 4k Sunday...  Ahhh....  relaxing almost :)  In just a few weeks I'll be wishing for these days back, I'm sure :)