Well week one of half marathon training is in the books, and I'm happy to say I nailed every workout on the calendar.



Starting my training program the week I was on vacation between Christmas and the new year turned out to be a brilliant idea. My workouts were the only major responsibility I had each day so it wasn't very hard to make sure I made the time for them. Plus it let me build up some nice momentum to start this round of training.

As I mentioned in an earlier post about this training cycle, I intentionally picked a very basic, beginner-level training plan for this race. My goal is to quite simply build my endurance back up in a slow and steady manner and ideally avoid injuries.

With that in mind, most of my weekday runs will be fairly short, while my long runs will steadily increase on the weekends. Pace isn't a concern this training cycle, though I'm noting it here mainly for my own knowledge.

Monday: 3 miles, 29:34, 9:51 per mile

I wrote more in detail about this run last week, but it was my first run in the real cold in PA and holy Moses did my lungs burn.

Tuesday: 2 miles, 18:59, 9:29 per mile

Slow, easy "recovery" run -- though it's funny to call it a recovery run when Monday's run was only one mile longer. Two mile runs are mentally easy. They just seem so short in comparison to my normal workouts.

Wednesday: 3 miles, 28:57, 9:37 per mile

Faster than Monday's run perhaps because the weather was more pleasant in DC, and my lungs didn't feel like they were on fire the entire time from frigid air.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Cross-train, FlyWheel class, 45 minutes

The schedule only called for 30 minutes of cross-training, but no spin class in the world is only 30 minutes. It's been a long time since I was on a spin bike, and boy did my butt let me know it the next day. I really liked the instructor for this class though. Too bad it was smack in the middle of the afternoon. The likelihood of me taking this class again is pretty slim.

Saturday: 4 miles, 39:27, 9:51 per mile

Apparently I really dig that 9:51 average pace per mile. My left calf has been tight on a couple of my runs this week, including Saturday's "long" run. It's been annoying, but not painful, so I'm hoping it's just getting used to doing regular running again. These four miles weren't anything too special, but they're probably the longest I've run at once in a couple of months.

Sunday: Rest

And that's a wrap on week one. I'm hoping to keep up the momentum in week two -- though starting now I'll have work and other real life things to fit my workouts around.