Before we dive into how my first week of half marathon training went, let's talk tournament.


Yes I repped my Terps on my long run on Selection Sunday

Is this not one of the greatest weeks of the year? Who's excited? I know I am.

But you know what I'm actually not excited about at all? The Terps #4 seed. It's some BS. We had that #3 seed all but locked up and somehow Oklahoma, who has a worse record than us, ends up in our seed playing games in Pittsburgh, while the Terps are sent out to Columbus.

Not cool selection committee. Not cool at all.

The team's reaction says it all.

https://twitter.com/JesseYomtov/status/577229927134699521

Also, I'm fairly certain the selection committee must have been on some pretty powerful drugs this year to let UCLA and Baylor into the seeds they got while snubbing Temple and Colorado State.

Ok, ok. Done with my tournament ranting. Maybe I'll get to witness some history as the Terps knock off undefeated Kentucky in the Sweet 16. Maybe I'm living in a dream world...


Terps love - last home game of this season

Let's move on to training and stuff.

Week one went exceptionally well. I had two hard speedy workouts and a nice long run. Hit the pool twice and was supposed to get to spin class, but after a work happy hour went way late, I ended up sleeping through it the next morning. Oops.

Here's how things went down.

Sunday: Swim Day. 1400 yards. Felt good to shake things out after my failed six miler the day before.



Monday: 3x1600. Mile repeats. Brutal. But I hit my paces for all but the middle one.

Tuesday: Supposed to have volleyball but it got canceled. Unintentional rest day.

Wednesday: 5 mile tempo. Hills and tempo runs don't mix well. Lesson learned.


First shorts run of the season!!

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Spin class that I accidentally slept through. Unintentional (but welcome) rest.

Saturday: Pool day. 1400 yards. Was supposed to do my long run, but it was pouring outside all day and I wasn't about to deal with that. So I swapped my normal Sunday swim sessions for my long run.

Sunday: 8 mile long run. This run was everything I needed it to be. It was my first easier effort run of the training cycle, and while I did keep an eye on my Garmin to make sure I was hovering around my target pace, I didn't get too tied up in it. I just sort of tuned out to my music and enjoyed being outside running long distances again.



Eight miles used to be my favorite training distance. A good workout, but not too overly taxing. This run reminded me why that is.

Also of note, I ran the entire time. Usually I snag a short walk here and there on my long runs to give my leg muscles something different or to conserve energy on hills, but I was feeling pretty good the whole time and didn't stop to walk once even when a nasty headwind kicked up.

Goal pace for my long runs is 9:22. I average 9:19 on this run! Whoop!

Mile breakdown (more for my reference):
Mile 1: 9:22
Mile 2: 9:25
Mile 3: 8:59
Mile 4: 9:43 (long hill)
Mile 5: 9:14
Mile 6: 9:35 (really steep hill)
Mile 7: 9:26
Mile 8: 8:45

Let's hope this streak of awesomeness continues the rest of the training cycle. If I can keep these kinds of paces and rock my workouts like this over the next several weeks, I'll show up at Frederick ready to do some big things.