Recap: HM5, Week 4 Training + Week 2 of Fit Abs

This week was not quite according to my plan.

Plan:

12 mi  mid 4P

arms

1E/4F/1E

bike  +core

1E/3T/1E

away

away

23

Actual:
*Ended up not going away Friday-Sunday night as we had originally planned.

Monday July 11: Hills workout that I missed last week. 6 of them. It was hot.  There was much walking between the uphills.  It was in the 80s and sunny because I was lazy and waited til mid-morning to get off my butt.  I was supposed to find 6 hills that would take a bout 1 minute to run up. 

I spent anywhere from 1:07-1:45 running up 6 hills at a 8:49-9:24 pace.

Recovery was supposed to involve walking/jogging down the hill. I walked more because it was hot, and the distance of recovery was longer because I moved to a parallel hill for each uphill (I didn't want people to think I was wacky running up the same hill 6 times in broad day light.  I only run up and down the same hill repeatedly in the dark).

= 5.08 miles.

Tuesday July 12: sooo hot, wasn't thinking about running.  It was still 85 when I went to bed at 11pm the previous night.  No chance of getting cool enough for me to run even early in the morning.
(Note: These were my thoughts at the time...however at the time I posted this, it was even warmer :-p)

Thursday July 14: 12 mile long run including 4 pace miles (goal HM pace ~9:50).  The weather was PERFECT.  It was 65 when I started my run with low-ish humidity, and only 75 at the end, 2+ hours later.  Here are the numbers. and my explanation.

I really waffled on when to have that Espresso Love gu.  I had a banana before my run, and the first time I took a walk break just past 7 miles, I felt like I should have a gu, but didn't feel like I needed it.  After running for a little bit, I decided that I should probably have the gu after all, before I felt like I needed it since I'd be running for another 5 miles.

I was pleased that my running after the pace miles felt easy, but was actually faster than the first part of my run.  Sub-11:00 is faster than my typical easy miles.  I attribute it to the abnormally cool weather.

=12.27 miles

Friday July 15:
Super quick 2 mile bike ride to test out my tire pressure.

+ Arms
2x12 reps w/5# in each hand:

• lateral raise
• shrugs
• shoulder press
• deadlift to upright row
• tricep kickbacks, both sides
• forward raises <-- really hard!
• chest press on stability ball (also working glutes & hamstrings!)
• tricep extension on stability ball (also working glutes & hamstrings!)

2x14 w/5#:

• one arm row, both sides 
• only because I realized I went above 12, and I'm anal, so I did 14 for the second set.

Note: I wasn't nearly sore enough the next day, so I really should have done more reps or more exercises.

Saturday July 16: 3.76 mile hike with husband & pup.

Sunday July 17: 1 Easy/4 miles including 3x[4 minutes Fartlek, 3 minutes Recovery], 1 Easy

2 Easy miles.  Then my three little 4-minute bursts were .45-.46 miles each and at an 8:41-8:53 pace, according to my Garmin.  Recovery periods involved walking for 1-2 minutes, then easy run until it was time to run fast again.  1.2 easy miles for cool down.

= 5.17 miles.
 

Total:  Ran 22.52 miles

In case you missed previous half marathon training posts:
Week 3 Recap

Week 2 Recap

Week 1 Recap 

The Plan 

Fit Abs Challenge -Week 2 Recap!

July 8: 25 ab moves with legs (lay on back, legs straight in air perpendicular to ground, bend knees to chest extend legs out flat, parallel to ground, bring knees in to chest, extend back up in air) = 25 reps

July 9: 50 reg. crunches, 50 oblique crunches, 1 minute plank = 110 reps

July 11: 120 tucks = 120 reps

July 12: 50 v-sit twists w/5#, 50 reg. crunches, 50 oblique crunches, 40 insanity leg/ab moves = 190 reps

July 13: 100 stability ball crunches, 30 tucks = 130 reps

July 14: 1 minute plank, 45 crunches w/knees to left, 45 crunches w/knees to right, 45 regular crunches = 145 reps

720 reps for the week

1380 reps for Week 1 + Week 2

PS, I found out I won a prize from Week 1 of the Fit Abs Challenge!  Each week there is a prize for a randomly drawn participant of the challenge, and prizes were volunteered from various bloggers.  I won a Bondi Band from Toni at Running, Loving, Living.  I have never tried a Bondi Band, I'm excited to get it and give it a shot!

PPS, I changed the background of my blog to a lighter color.  It's nothing final: the birds aren't really relevant, but I wanted to at least test out the lighter background.  Only problem I have found is that the font color in some of my training charts is not visible as the font color did not change over in some of those pasted items.  Please feel free to comment on if that has improved readability, if you like it/don't like it, etc.