This past week completed week 15 of my 16-week Run Less Run Faster (affiliate link) training cycle for my OBX Half Marathon which means that the race is one week from today!

I’m certainly inspired as I write today’s post while watching the New York City Marathon. Shalane Flanagan just won the women’s division with a time of 2:26:53 and the men are closing in on their final mile. I am so happy for Shalane to win her first marathon major!

My good friend Kim is also running today and I’m sending good vibes her way! I’m still regretting not running NYC back in the day, so I’m living vicariously through my friends! 😀

Now back to my training… Scheduled for my track workout was 5 x 1000 repeats at a 7:30 goal pace with 400 recoveries, bookended by a 1-mile warm-up and 1-mile cool-down. An early meeting kept my friend Tiffany from meeting me at the track, so I decided to play it safe and run around the circle in my neighborhood on the cool Halloween morning. I loved just stepping out my door to run, but didn’t love that I had a few hills on my “track.” As a result, I hit my repeats at 8:18, 8:22, 9:21, 8:22, and 8:22 – slower than expected.

 

My training plan for Thursday’s tempo run had me run a 2-mile warm-up, then 3 miles at an 8:13 goal tempo pace, and finish it up with a 1-mile cool-down. I hit my tempo miles at 8:34, 8:13, and 7:57. I definitely perform better the more warmed up I get, which reminds me of how miles 10 to 20 were always my easiest miles in my marathons and how I usually depended on running negative splits for my race strategy.

Friday evening Bill and I met two other Cruiser couples for dinner at Firebirds where my grilled salmon was amazing! Over dinner we discussed the Cruisers participating in a century ride next year or creating our own on the C&O Canal. There seemed to be interest, so stay tuned!

 

Saturday morning I didn’t have anyone in particular to meet, so I slept in a little and headed out for my run around 7:45. While getting ready, I stepped out onto our deck at 7:30 and 7:40 to take these two pictures of the beautiful sunrise. I was kind of sad that I hadn’t started running earlier so I could enjoy the sunrise while on my run.

 

Rather than driving to the W&OD Trail, I ran along our community paths until I hit the trail in just over a mile. I saw lots of bikers, but very few runners which is typical the weeks following the Marine Corps Marathon since it is such a big draw for runners in our area.

My long run called for 8 miles at an 11:18 average pace. It was 44° and another perfect morning for a run. I had an enjoyable solo run and finished at an average pace of 10:22. I started second guessing my goal of PR’ing at next Sunday’s half where I’ll need to run sub-8:45’s, but I need to trust my training and head confidently into the race. I’ve never let my head get in the way of a strong run, and now’s not the time to start!

 

In case you missed it on the blog, this past week I posted:

Looking ahead to this coming week, I’ll be squeezing clients into a three-day workweek, packing for my race, etc. so I’m not sure if I’ll have time to write anything. If I have time, I will, though!

In addition to the runs I mentioned above, here’s a run-down of the other workouts I completed this past week…

 

Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included:

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • How confidently do you go into your races? ~ I’m usually quite confident and trust my training; however, longer distances are becoming increasingly harder for me so I’m nervous about holding that pace for that long.
  • How was your Halloween? ~ We loved having more trick-or-treaters than past years with the new, younger families moving into our neighborhood. 
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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