Good afternoon!
Sorry for the delay in post today, it has been a crazy day!
Let’s get right into it with the winner of the chia seed giveaway:
Congrats to Nehal who said, ‘I usually try to fit in some yoga on my rest days. I love the free 20 min. sessions on yogadownload.com!’ Nehal please email me [email protected] with your address. Congrats!
Don’t despair if you didn’t win, I am having another chia seed giveaway tomorrow! :D You can also check out Julia’s Compassionate Cooks Recipe giveaway going on until Friday!
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Snake Eyes
I was up early this morning baking + packing up my orders. I knew I wanted to go for a long run, so I got a good 3 hours of work done by 10am. As I get busier and busier, I am going to start my baking earlier and earlier because it really gives me a jump start on the day. I love knowing that I already finished 3 orders before 10am!
Back to my long run today…
I ran SNAKE EYES!!!!
11 miles, baby!
I didn’t see fairies, rainbows, and unicorns like Saturday’s run, but I would say it was still a decent run! I can’t really complain. :) I didn’t bring any homemade energy gel with me today because I wanted to do a little experiment and see how my body managed without any fuel. I definitely noticed a drop in energy from miles 7-9 compared to when I have the gel.
The run:
Murder Hill Route
Distance: 11 miles
Duration: 1 hour 55 mins 43 secs.
Avg Pace: 10:31 min/mile
Max pace: 7:38 min/mile
Max HR: 165 bpm
Avg HR: 146 bpm
I stopped to walk for about 30 seconds almost every mile.
I rocked out to Nirvana, Green Day, and Offspring on this run. I totally love running to old school music! I had a couple blissed out moments on this run, but no where near the running high I had last Saturday. Today’s run felt like all business. ;)
I noticed today that I am a bit ahead of schedule in terms of my long runs and where I thought I would be. I have 17 days until my half-marathon, so I might fit in 2 long runs and still allow for a taper week. But, I’m not sure.
What do you guys think about running the actual race distance the week before the race? Initially, I wasn’t going to run 13 miles during training, but now that I have a bit more time, I am considering it.
Do you think it is beneficial to run the race distance beforehand or do you think it just increases the rick of pre-race injuries?
I think I will probably stick to my plan and make 12 miles my longest run. I don’t know if running 1 more mile will help me that much more.
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Beating Exercise Fears
Eric and I went on a hike the other day and guess who had another snake encounter??? MOI! I don’t know what it is with me and snakes when I go hiking! We were hiking in a really rocky area and I thought to myself, ‘Oh my GOSH, snakes LIKE rocks!!!’ And not even 2 minutes after, I saw a black snake right by my foot! It looked like this:
Only it was about half the length as the one photographed and a bit skinnier.
I screamed ‘SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ and ran as fast as I could. Eric laughed his head off. I think my heart rate jumped about 40 beats/min.!
Anyways, I swore I would never come back to the trail to run because I was so scared. But, then I thought, well that is a bit silly. I love trail running.
So yesterday I strapped on my sneakers and had a lovely trail run, even though I was terrified of coming across another snake. No snake sights this time! Sometimes, you just have to face your fears and ignore the mental tricks your mind plays on you. I will admit, I was really scared on the trails yesterday and I was VERY jumpy at the smallest rustling noise I heard. I actually screamed when I heard a squirrel in the leaves! LOL. But, I kept on!
Have you ever overcome an exercise fear? What was it?
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I need to get back to work despite wanting to sleep under my desk. ;) I am going to take the next 1-2 days off of exercise to rest up. I may do 20 minutes of light walking tomorrow to see if that improves my recovery.
Enjoy your Wednesday!
Amazing – congrats to you!!! Before my half, I did run one 13-miler and one 15-miler. But they were part of my training schedule and were earlier in the training. The week before my race I think I ran 10 or 11.
Before my last half marathon, my longest run was 10 miles the week before the race, and I did just fine for my race. After mile 10, it was great to think that, with every step, I was running further than I ever had before!
Oh, and about your half marathon training, I think you are totally ready to run the 13 mile, always listen to your body but if your feeling great on your next long run, you should just go for it!! As long as you don’t push yourself past the muscle and joint aches (save that for race day) cause now is not the time to recover from injury. Just remember to run at a slower pace then your race pace.
I ran 13 miles once before my first half marathon and it was challenging but I am so glad I did it because it is good to know exactly what your body is gonna go through, and gives you an idea of what pains and discomforts (blisters, chafing, cramping etc.) you could avoid for the next time. For instance, when I ran the practice 13 mile, I just got a blister between my toes for the last 5 miles and it was insanely painful, so I knew I should wear bandaid tape around that toe on race day, and it worked!
GO FOR IT GIRL!!
Funny you mentioned blisters because I got two small ones on my 11 miler today that I didn’t get doing under 11.
I just have to say CONGRATULATIONS for running 11 miles – that is incredible. I have no advice whatsoever about what’s best to do in the future (I’m not a distance runner), but I wish you nothing but the best in your upcoming race!
Congrats on running the 11 miles!
I never run the full distance so close to race time-if you want to, 2-3 weeks before I’d say. But you don’t want to kill yourself!!
xo
K
Running itself was actually always my exercise fear. I avoided it because every one in my family was naturally good at it, and I wasn’t. I definitely didn’t throw on my shoes and magically run 5 miles (my dad and sister both did)–but starting slowly and understanding that I’d get better eventually got me over that one.
-Sarah
My training plan suggests 13 miles this weekend, then 10k next weekend as a taper but I’m going to do 12 instead.
I really want that PDR during the race itself and think it’ll be so much more exciting that way! I’ve run 10 miles before at race pace and if I can run 12 miles slightly slower I know I can do both miles and time so I’ll be fine on race day…great job on the 11 miles today!
-CJ
I would start tapering soon!
~Laura
Backstage Pass to Health & Happiness
LauraMKE.blogspot.com
Personally I wouldn’t do the 13 miles the week before- maybe 2-3 weeks before if possible. You really notice a difference if you give yourself that extra time to rest and refuel.
As for overcoming a workout fear, mine is a little different and doesn’t involve any creepy animals (well maybe it does?)
When I was in university I would regularly workout at the school gym because it was free. I would go everyday of the week and I was always the only female in the whole gym, surrounded by many male onlookers (some men classify as creepy animals, I think!) it took me a while to overcome the insecurity of being the only woman there, but after a while I just didn’t care and it became the norm. I just stuck with it and then it didn’t bother me.
i’d say to run the full race distance if you have time and don’t feel too overworked or overtrained. mentally, i think it gives you a boost to know that you’ve finished 13 before on your own and you can do in the race setting as well.
but i definitely don’t think you HAVE to run the full distance if you don’t feel comfortable fitting it into your plan.
Congrats to the winner and it was spiders!
Congrats on the great run! My biggest workout fear are long runs but I’m slowly growing out of it!
Congratulations! I just did 11.1 miles the other day for the first time. What a great feeling. My half is in mid-October, so I have a good deal of time. I’m much more ahead of where I planned to be, so I’m not sure what to do either. In the end, I think if we’re up to 12, or even 11 miles before the race, we’ll be fine on race day. I don’t have a particular time I’m shooting for, as this is my first half….I just want to finish feeling good!
You are so amazing Angela! Someday I hope to be as in shape as you. I’m proud of myself for running 5.5 miles yesterday, and I have a 10K on Sunday. I’m going to take it easy between now and then, but I wanted to know that I could run almost the whole thing! I have a half marathon coming up in mid October and probably won’t be able to run the whole thing :(
Congrats on your killer run!
My exercise fear is definitely getting lost on runs; I am so scared that I’ll run to exhaustion and not know how to get home!
Woohoo! Congrats on the distance Angela!! :D I lovelovelove trail running. I hated running until I discovered the trails around my house. It completely changed the experience for me!
I would probably do the 13 miles first. But that’s just me. I know you’ll be able to finish come race day without doing it beforehand :)
Hey Ange! Awesome job on the distance! Sucks I didn’t win the giveaway…oh well..guess I’ll go buy some anyways :)
Oh I’m also hosting a cookie giveaway! Come check it out!!
Maggie
Nice run Angela! I think you’ll be fine only running 12 before your first half. I only ever ran 10 miles before my first TWO half marathons and I did just fine.
My biggest workout fear is that it doesn’t pay off, as in I don’t get faster at running or my abs will NEVER be ripped ;)
My greatest exercise fear is going to a class and being in the worst shape there. Like, I work out regularly and am in good health, but the idea of going to a city boot camp class is terrifying to me. For me, the ideal workout is at my gym at home during school holidays when it’s me and the retirees and I am the youngest, limber-est person there!