Last week was pretty cray cray–with what was a full week of training and a half marathon PR tacked on at the end!

Monday, December 4–3 miles easy

Just an easy run around the hood. This was supposed to be a tempo run but my heart wasn’t in it for some reason, and I decided to move it to the following day. Which ended up being a great idea.

Tuesday, December 5–6 miles

I met up with my local run club at 4:40 a.m and nailed this workout. Two miles WU, two miles @7:30, 7:25, two miles CD. The two miles were continuous w/o a RI so I was really happy I was able to keep the pace and even negative split (it was a little fast actually, target pace was 7:40).

Wednesday, December 6–Strength train, stretch, roll

The not so fun stuff, lol!

Thursday, December 7th–7.50 miles

This was a doozy. I was NOT looking forward to this run because it just seemed…hard, lol!! But I met up with some buddies (again at 4:40 a.m.) and my pacer friend Tomio agreed once more to take on this workout on with me.

2 mile WU
2x5min @7:10-15 w/RI (7:05, 7:11)
3x3min @7:00 w/RI (7:04, 7:18, 7:34)
5x1min @6:30-50 w/RI (6:33, 6:43, 6:30, 6:26, 6:25)
1 mile CD

I struggled a bit with the 3 minuters, but I was pretty euphoric after this run. It was hard but I did it!

Friday, December 8th–Stretch, roll

I stuck to stretching and rolling and gave myself a rest day from strength, lol!

Saturday, December 9th–4 miles

Easy 4 miles with my MRTT crew.

Sunday, December 10th–13.1 miles (Scottsdale Half Marathon)

Elle made a good point (she’s so smart) on my race recap, in that I didn’t have an actual taper leading up to the half marathon and despite that, I was able to PR. I hadn’t thought about that but she was right. I had a full week’s worth of workouts leading up to the race!

I love this pic.

So far, I’m feeling pretty good post race. I’m excited for the progress I’ve made and I’m excited to continue my training. It is such a difference from the last cycle where I was really struggling–on many levels–but one of which was my job, which I no longer have. I’ve decided to retire from teaching and stay home with my kids a little longer. I’m not sure yet what my future career-wise will look like, but I know from past experience that whenever I’m home, I make running my full-time job, lol! I’m thankful for another go at stay-at-home-status and the opportunity to devote some extra time to training. ❤

–Have you benefitted from marathon training and PRd on a race during?

–Have you walked away from something you once loved? (I taught for 9 years!)