Running Ninja

Training so far...an easier way to view what I've done.  2 weeks until my half marathon.

I was able to scratch off that 12 mile run from week 11 today.

There were some extra easy runs sprinkled in along the way.  I only missed one tempo run (week 8).  At the time I was a little behind and had two of the 4 tempo mile runs on my schedule, so I thought one of them could go.

Here's another way to look at what I've done so far.
x = rest.  Far right column is weekly miles run.

20-Jun  27-Jun  4-Jul  11-Jul  18-Jul  25-Jul  1-Aug  8-Aug  15-Aug  22-Aug  29-Aug

Mon 2 easy  4 tempo  6.3 easy  5 hills  14 bike  10 long  13 long  x  6.8 easy  10 long  15mid5P

Tues 2 easy  5.4 pro  5 tempo  x  x  x  4.3 easy  7 tempo  13mid4P  8 bike  x

Wed x  x  2 easy  x  5 tempo  x  x  5k  7 bike  5 tempo  5 pro

Thur 5 fartlek  10mid2P  11 long  12mid4P  5 easy  4 fartlek  6 pro  x  5 fartlek  x  x

Fri 10 bike  x  x  2 bike  4.5 easy  5.7 bike  7.7 bike  6.5 hills  7 bike  7 hills  7 tempo

Sat 8 Long  x  x  4 hike  x  x  12mid1P  x  x  3 easy  x

Sun 5 hike  x  x  5 fartlek  7 bike  5 hike  14 bike  x  x  x  12w1P

17  20  24  22  15  14  35  17  25  22  39

I'm pretty proud of my 7 mile tempo run this week.  I started to get down on myself before I even ran.  It was supposed to be 5 miles at a 9:30-9:50 pace with an easy mile on either end, and that sounded hard from the comfort of my kitchen chair.  But I got my butt out the door, looking like a running ninja, and I got it done.  I brought my music along for a little boost.

 black headband, tank, sunglasses = ninja

Tempo mile paces were: 9:49, 9:41, 9:48, 9:45, 9:38.

Today's 12 mile run was fun- I ran 10.5 easy miles with a friend, then continued on to run another mile at half marathon pace (9:56), then did nearly another mile of running/walking with my cell phone camera to check out some of the damage to the towpath from the hurricane.

You might remember this picture from earlier this week:

I counted the number of stones down from the bridge.

Today the water was ~2.5 feet below the top of the concrete wall.

Here are a couple more.

I'm sorry, but I'm obsessed with all the flooding we had.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around 7.1 inches of rain in less than 16 hours.

The tree tunnel/passageway to the right is the only way through.
And at 5'2" I had to duck.  That NEVER happens.

Check out the muddy leaves, you can see how far the water came up.

The rocks got washed diagonally across the path into the canal.
This child also snuck into my picture.  Don't worry, he had an adult nearby.

Here is my artistic interpretation of where the edge of the "path" was (straight blue line) and where there is now gravel exploding into the canal as a result of the previous picture.

Fun stuff.  Don't think hubs will be biking to work for a while; in several parts of the only 1/2 mile section showcased above, so much of the fine gravel and dirt was washed away that it's only large jagged chunks of rocks left behind that would not treat his thinner hybrid bike tires well.  It was enough to run on them... I was hoping I did not twist and ankle or fall face down on them.

Here's what I'm planning on doing for the remaining two weeks until my half:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
9/5	bike	6 fartlek		5 hill		7 tempo	bike?
9/12	??Long Run??	??Long Run??	5 fartlek		4 pace	rest	half marathon!

Here's the deal.

I will be away this Friday through Monday morning.  I would like to at least run my 7 mile tempo run + Dan and I were planning to take advantage of our hotel's free bike rentals.

I have TWO long runs left on my schedule, but time for only one more.  Should I...

• do a 10 mile long run with 4 pace miles in the middle?
• do the 8 mile long run

Also to consider:

• My long run will have to be either Monday night after a red eye and a day of work or Tuesday
• I have already completed 
• one 15 mile run with 5 pace miles
• two 13 mile runs, one with 4 pace miles
• three 12 mile runs, one with 4 pace miles, two with 1 pace mile
• one 11 mile run
• three 10 mile runs, one with 2 pace miles

I feel like a long run with pace miles is more valuable.  But is running 10 miles on Monday or Tuesday too close to the race on Sunday? 

Pretty cool: if all goes well in the next 2 weeks I will have only missed one long run and one tempo run over the entire 13 weeks!  I think that's good.  Applying my behavior intervention plan terminology, that's pretty high treatment integrity, if I do say so myself.


Doing anything fun over Labor Day Weekend?
Last night we went to our favorite local brewery (an hour+ away) to fill our 2 growlers and have dinner; I enjoyed my long run today then we were invited to our friends' pool this afternoon, and I plan to laze about tomorrow- last time I will be able to for a couple weeks!

Please tell me what you think about my long run dilemma!