Well, here we are. One week exactly until the half marathon I’ve been training for since January 24th. 

When I started this training, I had the thought that maybe I was jumping in too soon for another race and any one smart would most likely say I did! After all, I did a half the beginning of November (the amazing Wine and Dine at Disney!), the full marathon at Disney World the second week of January AND the Star Wars Half in California on January 20th. So really, I didn’t give my body much of a break at all before jumping into this training plan and considering that it was a tough one and I am hoping for a time goal, it was ambitious.

But the truth is, the training has gone well. Despite there being several major disruptions. First off, my honey and I spent a week in Mexico to celebrate our anniversary were I did very little running and an awful lot of this:

Yeah, this isn’t really training. But it was awfully fun;).

I also had a bit of a hip problem a few weeks ago that’s since resolved, but I missed several key workouts. That was a bummer.

And lastly, and most likely more disruptive, I started a new job! Anyone who’s ever been through training and transition in a new place knows that it can just plumb wear you out. Oh, and did I mention it’s a job where I am on my feet, sometimes for 8 hours? So yeah, there’s that. The good news is I LOVE it and I figure those long shift where I’m walking and standing can count as a bit of cross training!

But all that being said (no excuses, right?) I still managed to run 146 miles, including a 9, 10, 11 and 12 mile long run. I’ve, at most, done 2, ten milers in the past for a half so I’m feeling super confident with the distance.

I need to publicly thank my amazing coach, Natalie Merrill, who has been such a great source of encouragement!! She’s also a great writer and runner – here’s a post she did for me awhile back.

She put together such a great plan for me. And you really see the benefits of a one on one coach when life throws you curve balls. With every disruption, Natalie was there to course correct and tell me which workouts I could skip or modify. That’s been invaluable! Love you, Nat!

That’s Nat in the middle. She won that race, btw. Oh, and with her is my good friend Stephanie from Food and Fitness 4 Real. Her blog is awesome!

I have to admit, though, I’m questioning my time goal. It is POSSIBLE but I will really have to work to pull it off. And that scares me. I am far too conservative and always have a hard time pushing myself appropriately. It’s tricky – you can’t push too hard in the beginning or you’ll flame out, but on the other hand, there is a point in the race where I need to really focus in and give it all I’ve got. I’m going to chat with my coach this week about my race day strategy because I may be missing something.

One thing I know is that when I get tired, I really start to slow and give myself a break. Yes, I know, I don’t get it either, but I always get to this point of discomfort where I say, “you know what, I do this for fun and there’s no reason to kill myself. I’m going to finish no matter what so . . .”

I DON’T want to do that this time. Just this once I want to REALLY push and see what I can do. But honestly I’m not sure I have that kind of determination and at the half marathon distance I don’t think you can fake that. It’s either going to be there or it’s not.

I’m trying some new techniques, specifically a visualization technique mentioned in last week’s Another Mother Runner podcast (interview with author Margaret Webb) involving pretending there’s an animal running beside me. Sounds silly, I know, but I tried it during my long run and it’s amazingly effective. I went with a fox that slightly resembled my youngest dog, Walter;).

Obviously if he wants to be my running spirit animal, he’s going to have to do more running and less napping.

I’ve also got my mantra! I used it today and it worked great. Again, fee free to laugh at me but it’s simply:

Keep your energy right here.

It’s  a reminder to keep my arms in close, my shoulders relaxed, and to not “spill” any of my valuable energy through poor form or lack of concentration.

So we shall see what happens! I am working a lot this week but will really be focusing on getting good sleep and eating well. I will be doing another post later in the week about what I do the few days leading up to a half. See you next time!

Happy running!