For those of you that forgot, I’m excited to be a Cleveland half marathon ambassador! That means that each week I’ll be sharing with you my training, ups and downs, and more. And this past week was my first official training week.

Week one of Cleveland half marathon training is DONE. And it was a good week – since I had been running pretty much daily leading up to training, I didn’t feel intimidated by this week’s mileage. I actually got in fewer miles now that training started- the weeks leading up to this week were in the 30s and this week – including some walking with my runs – was 25 miles.

Monday: On the schedule – 3 miles.

Actual run – 3 miles, with the first 2 at 1% incline. I also added in a little warmup and cool down. Not sure why, but this run was not as easy as it should have been! It was a rougher treadmill run than usual. Maybe I was tired from the weekend?

Tuesday: On the schedule – 4×400 at 5k pace.

Actual run – ouch. But I did it! I have been trying to get a sub-25 minute 5k and haven’t yet “officially” (in an actual 5k) so my goal 400m pace is about 8 minute/mile. Since I was on the treadmill, I ended up doing a little warmup and 400m in between each sprint. Man, that was rough. I can’t believe this is the easiest speed work that I’ll be doing – I know where I’ll be suffering this training season – speed work and intervals for sure! Still, I did it and got in about 3 miles total including warmup and cool down.

Wednesday: On the schedule – 3 miles.

Actual run – 3 miles, with a mile warmup and mile cool down. Also attempted to keep the incline at 1% for 2 miles. I was feeling MUCH better than Monday and enjoyed my cool down and warmup so much that I made them a mile each.

Thursday: On the schedule – NO RUN. 

Actual workout – It was nearly impossible for me to take the full day off, so I did the elliptical on EASY and lifted some weights. I’m really trying to take my off days and cross training seriously!

Friday: On the schedule – 3 miles.

Actual run – 4.75 miles, again with warmup and cool down and 2 miles at 1%. I felt great this morning for some reason so I listened to my body and did a LITTLE bit longer of a run (not THAT much!). I also did a little longer cool down and got to 6 miles total.

Saturday: On the schedule – 5 miles.

Actual run – 5.5 miles, first 2 at 1% incline and then the next 3 miles gradually getting speedier until I was running at just sub-9 min mile pace for the last mildish. I lost track and actually finished running at 5.5 miles, finishing at 9:05 min/miles for the whole pace. It’s nice that my “long” runs are done in less than an hour right now – something I definitely am not taking for granted! After my run, I did a quick 1.5 mile walk to cool down.

Sunday: On the schedule – cross train or off.

Actual workout – 4 mile walk (not shown on my dailymile app map above). I somehow dragged B outside in the snow (Yes, March 1 it was 20 degrees and snowing) and convinced him to walk (not run) the bridges with me. It was a somewhat more difficult walk – the sidewalks weren’t plowed so I definitely felt my leg muscles working on the bridges (hills) a little bit. Even though it was just a walk, it was good to be outside. I got in 12,000 steps just from our walk, about 4 miles!

Overall thoughts about the week: 

The good: I didn’t miss any of my workouts and I took my off days (or my “stretch and strengthen or xc” days) seriously. I kept mostly to the schedule (yes, I did run a little longer a few days – but not by much!). I didn’t run on those days and I actually attempted to lift some weights and do ab exercises. Go me! Also, B signed us up for the St. Malachi 5 miler in a few weeks so that will be a great excuse for me to get outside and tackle some real hills (it’s a hilly but fun course).

The bad: I didn’t make it outside. Again. I probably could’ve gone outside twice this week (Wed was in the low teens and Saturday was sunny and cold but streets weren’t icy) but I didn’t. I’m hoping that it will warmup somewhat and I can get my outside running groove back soon!

Questions for you:

• Do you have any races coming up?
• Have you gotten outside for a run or have you been stuck inside like me? (I guess stuck isn’t the right term … I could run outside if I were braver!)