Princesss Half-Marathon Week 1 Training (Brittany)

Week 1, Run 1

I was so pumped all weekend, knowing I would officially kick off half-marathon training this week. I love having a plan to follow, knowing exactly what I need to do to reach my goal. That is exactly how I felt about Couch to 5k training when I first did it. I was so dedicated to that plan, and it got me where I needed to be. Being plan oriented is just a part of my highly organized personality. 

Wednesday night, I was determined to get my run done first thing in the morning, although I've blogged how hard that is for me. But when my alarm went off that morning, I decided I'd much rather have the satisfaction of being done with my work-out by 6:45 than I would get from sleeping till 6:45. So I dragged my butt out of bed and put on my running gear.

When I stepped outside, it was soo cold and soo foggy. This is not unusual being that I live in the Tennessee Valley, one of the foggiest places around. I knew I would warm up once I got the blood pumping, and the temperature would feel better. I did a short warm-up and took off running. I went around my block 4 times (it is a half-mile loop). I ended up going 2.2 miles in a half hour (Tuesday and Thursdays are just half hour runs). My first mile was 13:25, and my second mile was 14:25. I am still working on maintaining a consistent pace. I'm thinking of doing at least one treadmill run a week to help with consistency.

I was pretty proud and happy to get that first run under my belt, and not to mention to be done working out so early. 

Week 1, Run 2

I knew Thursday would be the real test run (ha pardon the pun) as to whether or not I could do this morning early run on the regular. Thursday is by far my longest day. And let's face it, by Wednesday night I'm gearing up for the weekend. But I did manage to get myself out of bed Thursday morning, and I'm super proud of myself. I know I can make these morning runs a habit now.

My run was pretty similar to the Tuesday run, in terms of splits and pace! The only difference was that instead of listening to podcasts, I crafted a Disney music playlist the night before. It is awesome, and I'm so going to share it. Every time a new song came on I would be like, "That's my Favorite!" And then I realized oh they are all my favorites because I picked them!

One funny thing that happen that morning, is while it was still dark, I was running, and went to step on a leaf. That leaf was a frog that dive bombed me! Scared me to death. Close encounters of the wildlife kind! 

Week 1, Run 3

I decided to do my last training run on the treadmill, for the whole consistency of pace thing. I had two miles on the schedule. It is kind of funny, because during training, Saturdays are long run days. But the first long run is just two miles. I typically run a little over 2 miles on my half hour outings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So this will be the only "long" run that isn't longer than my Tuesday/Thursday runs.

I started my run on 4.3 mph on the treadmill. Can I just say that I forgot how much harder the treadmill still feels for me compared to running outside? It was a struggle the whole time, I even had to bump it down to 4.1 a couple of times. But if anything the treadmill helps me learn how to keep on going even when it feels sucky.

I'm so happy to have week one of training complete. Just 21 weeks to go!

Brittany

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