If you follow this blog then you know what I ran each day since it is posted at the bottom of each blog post. But here I want to compare the training plan with what I actually did! I am training for the Earth Day Half-Marathon.

Monday: A 45-minute fartlek run with 1 minute hard and 5 minutes steady, after a warm-up. I warmed up for 10 minutes and then did 4 1 minute surges with 5 minutes steady/recovery running. My total workout was only42 minutes, I didn’t feel like tacking on another 3 minutes by circling the block endlessly! I ran 5.3 miles along the Midtown Greenway.

Tuesday: 6 miles easy with 5 accelerations. I only did 3 miles at the YWCA Indoor Track (6 laps per mile) in 22:44 with my 5 accelerations. I was going to hit the bike for awhile to make up the difference, but none were available. I have been having some leg pains and have been doing lots of walking. I’m adjusting my casual shoes around and hopefully that will help.

Wednesday: 6×800 5 seconds faster than 5K pace. I did this workout at the YWCA Indoor Track again. I warmed up for 10 minutes, stretched and then started the intervals. I completed all 6 and their 4oo meter recoveries for an overall workout mileage of 6.33 miles and total time of 48:34. My 5K Pace is 6:16, so my 800 needed to be around 3:10. (I think my math is a little off, so I’ll adjust next week!) Here are my splits: 2:54, 3:11,3:09,3:12,3:03,3:01. I was happy with the workout, except the track is a little rough on my knees – due to the tight turns.

Thursday:5 easy 4 accelerations. I took a cross-training day today and did 16.5 miles easy on the bike for an hour workout. Everything felt fine until I went and did my 5 accelerations on the indoor track.

Friday: 4 miles easy, 5 accelerations. I took advantage of the heat wave and ran outdoors in 26 degree temps for 4.5 miles in a time of 36:40. I ran along the Midtown Greenway and it felt pretty good. I did 4 accelerations (since I accidentally did 5 Thursday) towards the end of the run.

Saturday: 8 miles – 6 easy 2 at goal pace. The six was pretty easy! I ran out for 4 miles on the Midtown Greenway which took me to the East end of the Greenway and then up one mile alongside the Mississippi River (very pretty). I caught myself looking down at the river and almost falling on ice or snow at the edge of the sidewalk. I turned around at 4 miles and came back. I went through 6 at 47:35 (7:56) a nice easy pace. I hit my watch wanting to be able to see what the splits were for the last 2 – well I don’t know my Garmin well enough yet and hit the start/stop button instead of the lap. I didn’t realize my mistake until I had gone almost a mile. I had looked at the pace function a few times to make sure I was on pace, but didn’t notice that the time wasn’t moving. Luckily, I was doing an out and back so I knew it was an 8 mile course. I knew that the Garmin actually calculates time from when you hit the start button until you reset it. So as soon as I finished I hit stop and reset the stopwatch. When I got home I synched the Garmin for the weeks data I was able to pull over the overall run time which is 1:01:34. Using my excellent math skills I deduced that my 2 mile time was 13:59 (7:00). This was 16 total seconds off my goal pace of 6:52 miles. It was a pretty good run, most of the 4 miles home were into the wind. Hopefully I learned my mistake about the watch buttons!

Sunday: Rest. Yup I did that!!

Total Miles: Ran 27.1 miles Biked 16 miles.

[tags] Half-Marathon, Training, [/tags]