Geneva Half Marathon Training – Week 1

While I often workout and run with friends, there is nothing like a husband as a workout partner to keep you accountable. Since Bo and I working out together these days, each of our workouts goes in our Outlook calendars on Sunday night, to ensure they are given priority during the week. The goal for these four weeks of training, before the Geneva Half Marathon, are to focus on strong training so that both Bo and I can be mentally and physically prepared to run a strong race on May 3rd. As we’re the same pace right now, our goal is to run the race together.

Due to the insanely gorgeous weather in Geneva, I’m opting for more evening workouts. Fresh air, flowers, sunshine, and rainbows are the perfect way to melt stress away after a long day of work.

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Training with Bo gives me a competitive drive to push just a little bit harder and faster during each workout. This means that last week’s workouts were awesome! In fact, I feel like he’s my secret weapon for Geneva Half Marathon training!

Monday: We drove nine hours back from Barcelona so this was a rest day.

Tuesday: We spent the easy 45 minute run catching up and enjoying the views.  I had to watch our pace to make sure we kept it slower than a 9:45. Jess continues to stress that each run has a purpose and a way it should feel.

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Wednesday: I realized during this workout that I’ve never pushed myself as hard as I should during tempo runs. If the run isn’t specifically called speed then it was treated a different way – until last Wednesday’s 5.5 mile tempo run. My office is exactly 1.5 miles from where Bo and I met the day previously, so this was a perfect way to squeeze in 15 minutes of relaxed, warm-up. As soon as I met him we started the main part of the workout, 3 miles at around 8:30 pace, followed by a mile cool down run home. Holy hell! The 3 miles burned my lungs and legs in the best way possible! There were moments during the second mile when I wanted to call it a day. Luckily, Bo was at my side pushing me just a bit faster. Our splits were 8:30, 8:02, and 8:16 – not bad for our first tempo.

Thursday: Thanks to the idiot personal trainer, my 30 minute strength training workout, which included push-ups, planks, Bosu ball sit-ups, dumbbell curls and more, was full of spirit and energy as I had a lot of negative energy to work off during the 30 minutes.

Friday: We switched things up and did a four mile progression run before work due to our schedules and Saturday morning’s long run. While the weather was perfect, our legs were fatigued. I’m not sure if it was DOMS,  but every mile felt harder than the previous. The pace was supposed to be easy for the first two miles before ramping things up to half marathon and 10k pace for the final miles. My legs didn’t quite get the memo as a 9:08 was the fastest mile I could squeak out.

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Saturday: The stars aligned during our 8 mile long run, and we both felt as if we could have run another 18 miles. I realize every long run won’t be as perfect as this one, but man was it awesome!

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Sunday: We dusted off our road bikes and did an hour ride through the same countryside we ran through the day before.  I was a bit unsteady so only clipped in my left foot as the last thing I wanted to do was bust a move.

Total Miles: 22                                Total workouts: 6 

Your turn: What was your favorite workout last week?

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Publix Savannah Women’s Half Marathon Training – Week 6

Never in my life have I been sick as often as I have since we moved to Geneva. Three episodes of food poisoning, two colds, iron deficiency and toxoplasmosis diagnosis later I’m ready to be healthy! After dealing with three days of sneezing, itchy eyes, and runny nose cold last week, I was thankful to land in Venice feeling much better. 

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By 4am Saturday morning it was clear that my body had other plans and I’ve spent the subsequent days fighting either a stomach bug or food poisoning.  Luckily almost 72 hours later, I’m finally feeling better! Just to be sure that my body is doing okay, I’m going back to the doctor this week to have my blood work taken so they can check my iron levels.

So, based on this verbose introduction, you can imagine that my training last week was less than stellar. Jess said more than once over the past week that training healthy is more important than anything else. This means knowing when to rest and knowing when to push.

Last week, was a week when my sick body called for lots of healthy eating, sleep, water and rest. The below training plan is proof that I’ve finally learned how to listen to my body!

Monday: I started the week feeling great. I pushed myself during the 60 minute yoga class, striving to get deeper into the poses than I have during previous classes. The hardest pose or move for me continues to be my splits. It’s humorous how inflexible I am when it comes to this move versus all other yoga moves I’ve attempted thus far. WHY?!

Tuesday: My schedule required me to hop on the treadmill for this week’s speed workout (1.5 mile warm-up, 4 x 800 meters speed, 400 recovery, 1 mile cool down). I entertained myself with an episode of Scandal and pushed through the four repeats at 8:20, 8:20, 8:13 and 8:20. Definitely not the fastest speed workout I’ve done but far better than I expected due to my cold.

Wednesday: I barely left my bed on Wednesday, working while curled up in a blanket and sipping tea.

Thursday: I woke up after ten hours sleep ready to conquer the world! I texted Mary, hoping she’d still join me for 4.5 easy miles. My body felt a bit “rusty” due to the cold but it still felt good to get out and move.

Friday: I texted back and forth with Jess Thursday night as I realized that I didn’t have the energy for Friday’s long run. I was feeling better but still not 100% and I feared that doing too much too soon would be pushing it. She agreed and suggested taking another rest day then using Venice as an opportunity to do my long run with Bo.

Saturday: After spending half the night in the bathroom, I hoped that whatever was in my system was out and that a banana before our run and few sips of Powerade would leave me feeling great. I’m crazy. Luckily my husband realizes this and after 3 miles we switched our “long run” into a long walk with multiple bathroom stops. In between two naps back at the hotel we logged around 5 miles of walking for the day in addition to a few bathroom sprints. While Bo tried to convince me to just rest at the hotel, I refused to miss out on seeing and experiencing Venice. I’m just thankful that I wasn’t completely bed ridden and could walk and sightsee, though far slower than normal.

Sunday: Since I only ate two bananas and some crackers on Saturday I woke up Sunday morning ravenous. I could tell that my stomach was still queasy so I started things off with some scrambled eggs, peppermint tea and half a croissant. We walked slowly during the day, taking in as many sights as possible, with frequent pauses to sit and rest.

This week, I can’t wait to dive into some fun workouts with friends including morning yoga, running, skiing and spin.

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Publix Savannah Women’s Half Marathon Training–Week 7

This week’s training recap is coming to you from the comfort of my bed. Unfortunately a few weeks of travel, too much fun, training and lots of sick colleagues have resulted in a cold. I’m on day 2 of the cold, aka the day when all I want to do is stab my sinuses.

So, while I sip hot herbal tea I’ll leave you with last week’s training. It was my strongest week to date and included lots of running versus the usual skiing.

Monday: Another week of glorious Monday night yoga. This 60 minute class flies by and before I know it we’re ending class in my favorite pose,  shavasana. Am I the only one who feels the need to buy this tank? Seriously though, each week this class has a different focus and last week’s hip opener focus was a very welcome treat for my body.

Tuesday:  I listened to a new Podcast, Stuff You Should Know, while enjoying an easy 40 minute run. The workout ended in 5 sets of strides and some lovely foam rolling. This was the perfect way to kick off the week’s runs as I felt strong and the easy run actually felt easy. I know that sounds weird but sometimes I find that I push myself too much during the “easy” runs so by the time the speed work or long run comes my body is tired.

Wednesday: Bo and I went to spin together after work and were surprised by the substitute teachers intensity. This 65 minute spin class left my legs shaking and me barely able to talk during most songs. The climbs were constant and the guys in the class thought it’d be fun to see how much they could push it, which of course led to me joining in the fun. I hit 172 RPM during the spring and the Rammstein music, while not my taste, definitely helped me zone out. If you’ve never heard of Rammstein just envision German death metal, oh and that song from 1997 Du Hast.

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Thursday: As much as I love running, not every run can be wonderful. Sometimes it’s a case of tired legs which feel more like lead weights than appendages. But this run was a mix of lead legs and a mind that just never got into the run. My mantra was to just run and finish the miles – nothing more, nothing less. Even though I enjoyed half the run with Mary I still finished the run feeling blah. I finished the 8 miles but never felt great and certainly didn’t hit the requested final 3 miles at a pace of 8:55-9:10. Instead the overall pace was closer to 9:50.

Friday: My legs and body were calling for a rest day so I listened and slept in as late as possible, snoozing my alarm more times than I’m willing to admit.

Saturday: It was hard to stay inside doing the prescribed strength workout when Bo wanted a running buddy. Therefore, per normal, I caved and pushed the strength aside in favor of a 5 mile run through Strasbourg. Sorry coach, sorry muscles – I wouldn’t have it any other way! We are both so enjoying the fact that he is back in running shape after his ACL injury left him unable to run since last April. We didn’t have a Garmin on us but based on the length of our run we kept around a 9:15 pace!

Sunday: At the hotel’s recommendation and a convenient running route card, we enjoyed a 5k run through the Petite France area of Strasbourg, winding us through covered bridges, canals, quiet streets, and old buildings. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to the city and enjoy a few Belle moments as I ran through the storybook town. Don’t worry, I didn’t burst out into song though I was tempted to multiple times. I mean come on, don’t you see the resemblance?  (Feel free to reference this Buzzfeed article for verification that it is set in the Alsace region!)

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YOUR TURN: Okay, now that everyone knows Belle is my favorite Disney character, it’s time to tell me who YOUR favorite Disney character is and WHY?

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