Reverse Taper, Running Blind, & Half Marathon Training Begins This Week!

Lots of things to discuss....  I ended up earning that climbing badge!! and I ended up having a big mileage week last week.  I ran 46 miles!!  That's a lot for me considering I'm not training for a marathon.  I chalk it up to having a really light work schedule and perfect running weather.

Reverse Taper
After my marathon  I had a take some necessary time off of the road.  I would get a little bummed out on some days because instead of running at lunchtime I would be forced to go Christmas shopping...And I would miss my endorphin high.... But, I know that it's good to have a break every now and then.  Here is a snapshot of the first four weeks after the marathon.

The calendar starts from the bottom end.

  I took this picture from my Strava training log.   The first week I ran 5 miles, the next week I ran almost 14 miles, then 21 miles, and finally back up to 30ish miles.  I really like how Strava organizes my data for me.

I'm glad that I didn't race at all in the month of December.... The previous two years I have raced the LVTC Holiday Half marathon, and while I like this race a lot, it would have interfered with my recovery and my training for my upcoming half.  I plan on racing the Saints and Sinners Half Marathon on February 20th.  I have about 5-6 weeks of workouts followed by a 1 week taper.

Running Blind
It worked out almost too well, but also at the beginning of December my Garmin Forerunner 10 died on me.....For the last month I have been running without a Garmin or a running watch.  Too say that it has been liberating has been an understatement!!  The downsides are that I end up losing track of time and running farther than I planned.

I recently purchased the obsolete Garmin 220, however Best Buy is taking forever to send it to me.  I purchased the watch online on Dec 18th,  and I was supposed to pick it up on Dec 31st.  Now the watch is on back order until Jan 8th....  The only reason I went with the 220 was because it was a sweet deal at $149.99.  I hope this isn't another bait and switch...

I couldn't take not wearing a wrist watch, so over the weekend I bought myself a TIMEX Ironman watch.

I hope I don't
destroy you too
quickly.

I found it at Target and I really like the blue hue. For my data I'm using the Strava mobile app on my phone.  I start the app, and then just put my phone in my waist pack and forget it (until I finish running )...  It's the best of both worlds.  I get to run free as a bird, but I still get to keep my data!!! Win Win!!
However, I am supposed to start interval training tomorrow, and I don't have access to  a track... How am I going to do speed work without a Garmin or track?  Well I guess I can use my simple watch to do intervals by time.  400 meter repeats=95 seconds of hurt   800 meter repeats=3:30-3:35 of hurt....    We'll see how the first week goes.

Since I only have about six weeks of training, I'm just going to go back to the same training program that I have used for my last two half marathons, and that is the Hal Higdon Advanced Half Marathon training program.

I like the flexability of this training program, and I like the fact that I can swap my days, and move workouts around.

Latest Workouts (Since the last post)

Tuesday 12/29- 10.5 Miles at the Hoover Dam with my Ana Conda!!  I recently reconnected with my  friend Ana on Strava.  I don't get to meet up with friends too often to run, and it just so happpened that we both had Tuesday off from work.  We decided to run through the train tunnels that head out to the Hoover Dam.  This run ended up having some wicked climbs. and we had so much fun taking photos.

Here's the data

Wednesday 12/30  8 Miles...  I was beyond beat, after running 10.2 on Monday and 10.5 miles the day before.  but, I wasn't sure if I would be able to run the following day, and I still hadn't climbed enough meteres to earn my Strava climbing badge.  I ran about seven miles and when I saved my run, I noticed that I still needed to climb 30 more feet..... Crap!  I went for another one mile run, where I ran up and down a stretch of road to make sure I climbed 30 feet.... Here's my prize.

Thursday 12/31-Rest

Friday 1/1- 6 miles....  I was in big hurry to leave the house. PMS was getting to me... I had planned on taking my son to the park, after my run.  He saw me dressed and asked if he could go too.

We ran a mile (sprints and walking mostly)  but man I love this little guy and I hope he enjoys running as much as I do someday....

When we got back home, I was feeling pretty froggy and I decided to do some speed work.  I didn't have a watch, but I used street signs, and lamp posts as markers....I also made sure to stretch really good before I got started. 

My first interval was on the long side.... I think I was trying to shoot for a mile but I only ran 3/4...  Then I slowly jogged for about two minutes (gusetimate) and then my next interaval was around 600 meters,  followed by a recovery jog, a short 100 meter interval, another longish 600 meter interval.... All together I did about 7-8 surges, and then I ran a mile and a half to cool down.

Here's the data

Saturday 1/2  5.8 miles. I think I may have been a butthole at the park this morning.... Maybe not.... I was tired from yesterday's speedworkout.  I jogged around the corner to my local park, and I decided to just run laps around the half mile track.  It was early and there weren't very many runners at the park.  A woman comes hauling ass right by me....  I ignored her because I was running easy pace....  Well after her sprint was over  I ran past her, but then I kept the tempo pace going,  (stupid I know.)  I'm guessing that she didn't want me to lap her, because she started her next interval soon after.  When she finished running she jumped in her car and angrily flipped a u-turn, and gave me  a dirty look......I ran a few more laps at the park, and then I left the park to run  a few more miles.  Here's the data.

One of these things is not like the other.

Sunday 1/3-  6 Miles and they felt tired.  Easy run, but I felt tired and sluggish...I could have rested, but I wanted to add on a few more miles to this abnormally long week of running....

Well that's all I've got for now....  Thank you for reading.