February 10 - 16, 2025
Half marathon training week 11 | 7 days until Princess Half Marathon
In which the countdown begins
Monday
off
Tuesday
Easy/strides: 6.3 miles (9:34), avg. HR 149, max 176, 91% Z1-2
Upper body strength
I felt a little sluggish for the first mile or two, but after that it was pretty good, if warm.
Wednesday
Workout: 2 mile WU + 20 min @ HMP + 8 min easy + 3 x 4 min @ 10KP/2 min RI + 3 min RI + 20 min @ HMP + 2 mile CD
13.1 miles, avg. HR 165, max 186
Lower body strength
Well, that went quite differently than Sunday's 4-mile reps at HM pace. Where Sunday was a massive struggle, this felt hard but not that hard (despite running significantly faster for the same effort). I attribute this to:
1. not running 11 miles with two miles ~M pace plus total body strength the day before
2. cloud cover
3. supershoes
So if I reverse the T+D chart, I'm looking at maybe 7:05-7:15 for the HM pace reps? That's probably overstating it - I think I'm probably a little better than average with warmth/humidity, so the effect would be a little less - but it's another data point. It will be interesting to look back after the race and see which data points gave me the most useful information!
On this run I had ~150g of carbs or about 80g/hour. I would say this also felt like slightly more than I needed. I guess I just like 75g/hour.
Thursday
Recovery: 4.6 miles (10:32), avg. HR 138, max 151, 100% Z1-2 (95% Z1)
As is often the case the day after a workout, my legs spent the first few minutes of the run acting like they forgot how running works, but after that it wasn't too bad. It was pretty gross out, though, so I was happy enough to be running super duper easy. I did have some soreness in my calf again afterwards (the right one this time, for a change), which worried me a little.
Friday
Easy/strides: 6.3 miles (9:36), avg. HR 148, max 176, 93% Z1-2
Core
My calf was still a bit sore, but it wasn't too bad. Still warm out as well, but the breeze helped.
Saturday
Easy/pickup: 7.1 miles, avg. HR 150, max 177
Yoga
That's a lotta 3s 
Hey, look at me not getting too fast on my progression the week before a race! I really did just get down to about M pace for a couple of minutes before backing off. This was somewhat assisted by only having 7 (really 6) miles to work with - not as much room to speed up. I did throw in a couple of strides in the last mile, but they were making my calf a little cranky again so I stopped.
I couldn't find a total body strength workout that I liked for 8 days out from an A race, so I decided to do a bit of yoga instead, and that was good.
Sunday
Long: 10 miles, avg. HR 158, max 183
I decided to sprinkle a little race pace into my last long run of the training block, so I did a couple of minutes at HM effort about once a mile for miles 3-8. "HM effort" was kind of all over the place (the wind did not help with this), so who knows what this tells me about my actual race pace.
But I'm pretty sure 50º is going to feel better than 75 with a 70º dew point!
Couple of twinges from the calf, couple of twinges from the left foot, but hopefully nothing serious.
Totals
Running: 7h 19m, 47.6 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 39m
Total: 8h 58m
I love how this now seems like a perfectly reasonable week-before-race-week. I was looking back at some of my old training journal posts yesterday, because I am Very Normal, and I had comments like, "Wow, 30 miles! That's the farthest I've ever run in a week!" And it was! And I was very pleased with myself, as I should have been.
It just shows how much things have changed between then and now. Progress may not be fast, but over time, with consistency, it adds up! So it's kind of fun to look back at where I used to be.
I know the progress can't last forever, but even someday in the future when I start slowing down, I'll always be proud of the version of me who ran her first sub-2 half and later her first 16-mile long run and everything beyond. At the time, those things were really hard! So it's pretty cool to have a record of all of that to look back on. Even if it also reminds me that I used to think that an average HR of 162 qualified as an easy run.
Coming up
Okay, nostalgia tangent over. IT'S RACE WEEK!!!!!!!!
It's finally/already here! So, pretty minimal training, and most of the strength will just be bodyweight/mobility-based.
I'm thinking I'll head to the expo on Thursday or Friday afternoon, and I'm planning to go to the meetup on Saturday. Hope to see some of you there! Then I'll be back here on Saturday with a pre-race weekly update. Oh, and I have some thoughts on festival treats to share before then too for anyone who'll be at Epcot this week. And possibly some kind of race plan (like I actually know what I'm doing lol). Eep! One more week!
. The toppings weren't bad - I liked the green goddess one the most - but I would have liked actual deviled eggs better. 2.5/5
But I really liked that it came with a tiny parasol!
A lot more walking than Hurricane Hanna's, though...
