Slaying a 7-Miler {Half Marathon Training Check}

Hey guys and gals! The past few days have been pretty jammed again, but I got plenty of "me time" today during my long run. Spring starts officially tomorrow, but we've been lucky enough to enjoy some nice weather and today was no exception! Another perfect day for a long run--mostly sunny with cool air and a gentle breeze.

After knocking out 6 miles fairly easily last week I had 7 on the docket for today. In the past this distance has always been a sticking point. It always seems to be a bit of a challenge to get over that hump, but today's run felt fantastic! Perhaps it was just the beautiful weather, or likely my consistency last month helped. Either way my legs felt strong even on the hills and I felt like my heart rate stayed pretty steady.

I probably did run a wee bit too fast for a long run, so I will make sure to dial it back as my distance increases. I've made the mistake of overtraining before and don't want to do that again. Luckily @dksart left me half of a juicy orange to gobble up as soon as I got back to the house. Vitamin C is great to combat the oxidative stress of hard training. 🍊

I'm feeling great overall with this first phase of my half marathon training. I think I have a good mix of a pretty solid plan, yet still have room to adjust as needed each week. Up until I hit double digits on the mileage of my long runs I'm happy with one long run, one solid speed/tempo session, and 1-2 easy shorter runs. I am also hitting the gym as usual with a few strength days split with an upper and lower body focus, a plyo and functional lower body day, and of course joining in with my core class once a week. That leaves at least one full day of recovery since I can double up on an easy run with either the upper body or core workouts. Definitely going to be feeling strong for spring! 💪

Happy trails my friends!

Running