Week 5 Half-Marathon training

This has been my best training week so far.  Not only do I feel myself getting stronger, I'm seeing an improvement in my pace. On Tuesday, I ran with the Running Room Clinic, and Ken, one of the instructors ran with me.  He has suggested that I go back to running 4 and 1s, as that seems to be where I find my best stride right now.  Over the next few weeks I'll work on increasing my running time.  Between the 4 and 1s and Ken's encouragement, I had my second fastest 5k time of the year, and it was a full 3 minutes faster than the last few 5k races that I've done.  I kept using the 4 and 1s for the rest of the week and continued to see gains in my time.

On Sunday my friend Teresa ran with me for my 10k long run. She normally runs at a faster pace than I do, but she stuck with me the whole time, which I really needed!  It started out cool and shady and flat, but around the 5k mark it became hot and sunny and hilly.  Having Teresa there helped me get through it all.  When I felt that I couldn't finish a 4 minute section, she would encourage me to just keep going.  When I couldn't make it up a part of the hill, she came beside me, held my hand and we got up it together.

While running can be a solitary sport, for me it is very much improved by the people I run with.

• Mon - rest day
• Tues - 5k run
• Wed - Work dinner out instead of 4k run
• Thurs - 5k run and Boot Camp instead of 4k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - 3k run
• Sun -10k run

Total: 23k - my most weekly distance so far

76 day to go!