Happy Wednesday! I’m really beginning to love Wednesdays since I’ve switched to having them as my rest days. Sometimes it’s really refreshing to just do a simple switch like this. I’m looking forward to sleeping in a bit, cooking a full breakfast (eggs/ avocado toast/sausage), meditating, reading (I took a book out at the library and when I tried to renew it, I saw that someone has it on their wait list sooo…looks like I’ll be finishing it by tomorrow night!- definitely the biggest drawback to library books, but it does also get me to read more which is pretty great), and hopefully some yoga.

Last week I had a GREAT week of training, exploring, racing, and just in general. I’m finally starting to feel fitter, faster, and gaining more confidence in my goals (after a few weeks of feeling “meh”, I’m really glad that I stuck it out through them). I hit my highest mileage week since I switched to the half (46.28 miles) and have just one more week of higher mileage to go before I begin tapering?!? I know I keep saying it, but time has gone by way too fast!

Monday, 10/15: Speedwork on the treadmill. 1 mile easy to warm-up/ 2 mi @ Half Marathon goal pace (7:45), 2 min rest, 1 mile @ 10k (7:22), 2 min rest, 1 mile @ 10k (7:16), 2 min rest, 1/2 mile @ 5k (7:10), 2 min rest, 1/2 mile @ 5k (7:02), 2 min rest, 1 mi cool down. 7.54 miles total. I definitely still have some work to do on the 5k times, but otherwise felt really strong throughout and pretty pumped to have gotten it done on the treadmill (which sometimes feels harder than outside (except that it was 9* out so yeah…indoors it was!)) - also on a Monday which is HARD. 60 minute coreBarre class at lunch

Tuesday, 10/16: 5.05 miles easy @ 10:16 715’ up

Wednesday, 10/17: 7.56 miles —>7 miles easy progression miles (splits: 10:39, 10:27, 9:39, 9:30) with 4 x :30 surges 413’ up (originally planned to do 5-6, but ran out of time!). I forgot how to use my watch (eye roll) and didn’t hit it for one of my splits, so I’ve got just the four - oh well! It was also still very dark when I finished, so no photos today!

Thursday, 10/18: 4 miles easy @ 9:43 36’ up / taught skating for an hour/ 4 miles easy @ 9:57 77’ up. 30 minutes of strength. I slept in this morning because I was feeling a bit worn-out, so I had to fit my 8 miles in around running errands/ teaching skating/ strength after packing up the car… it isn’t always ideal, but we still make it work!

Friday, 10/19: REST DAY —> travel day to Lake Powell!

Saturday, 10/20: RACE DAY! 1 mile warm-up @ 11:26 (included some running drills on the grass), 13.1 miles with first 1-6 miles easy @ 8:48, miles 7-13.1 working towards Half Marathon Goal Pace avg @ 7:58. Splits: 9:16, 9:03, 8:40, 8:27, 8:58 (singletrack trail), 8:26, 7:25, 7:58, 8:02, 8:23, 8:25, 8:01, 7:32

Sunday, 10/21: 4.03 miles easy at 11:22 113’ up at Capitol Reef National Park! My legs felt a bit sluggish so I just went out without music while the sun was just beginning to rise and enjoyed the quietness of the park. I stopped to take some photos (kept my watch going) and relish in the opportunity to experience a National Park by foot! How lucky are we (runners) to see places by our feet when many others cannot? It was really nice to not care at all about the time on my watch and just be present in the moment.

Total Mileage: 46.28 miles

Total Elevation: 2, 298’ up

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Ever ran in a National Park?

Ever used a race as a workout?

Ever read How Bad Do You want it?

Library books- yay or nay?