May 23rd 2009 – Half Marathon Training Easy Run

5 runs in a row!  I cannot believe I actually set myself up for this.  Of course, part of it was so that I didn’t have to leave the house alone to go run on Colleen’s birthday, but it was really rough convincing myself to get to the gym for this 5th run!  I haven’t been at the gym 5 days in a week in quite some time.  I hadn’t really wanted to be at the gym 5 days a week, but this program set up that way and I’m really trying to follow it closely.  I’m not exactly worried about the half marathon, but I’m also not competing just for the sake of completing the distance.  I want to feel like I’m really accomplishing more than just saying I can run 13.1 miles.

Strength training today was more than anything the hard part of today’s training.  I’m definitely going to be more in tune to the strength training part, and have also made a determined effort to have that include some core training.  That means abdominal work, which I obviously need.  Still, having backed down to the smaller dumbbells again has shown that my strength had diminished slightly and the soreness in my chest and stomach a true indicator that I need to pay more attention to my upper body.

5 minutes in zone 3 in this run.  That’s up only slightly from the last easy run, and again not at all worrisome for me.  It crossed over just barely and really never reached anaerobic threshold, which was all I was worried about.

Housekeeping:  6.0 miles in 53:38 for an 8:56 average pace.  617 total calories burned.  For 5 days of running, I managed 34.3 miles total and 4291 calories consumed.  Pretty good I’d say.

Just one day of rest, though, before I have to get back to another long run!  I will be interested in how this next 10 miler goes.

Cheers!