Half Marathon Update - Week 8

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Why does it feel like I just finished writing the week 7 update?  Oh right, because I was a little late with that one.  My bad!  Week 8 went much better than week 7 did and I'm really pleased with that.  Last Sunday I was supposed to meet up with the Team Challenge Group for a 7 mile run but the weather was crap - it rained all night and was still raining when my alarm went off.  I checked the weather and it didn't appear like it was going to clear for a few hours and I did not want to spend over an hour out in the cold/rain.  Having dealt with the cold/sinus infection all week I decided to email my coach to let her know that I was going to back out on the group run that day.  The weather report showed clear skies on Monday so I had already started planning to hit a new trail (actually it's the path where Dan and I have biked a bunch this summer) just so that I'd get a different view than the same view I have running all around my town.

I programmed my Garmin for a five minute walk, then 3.5 miles of running at which point I'd turn around and run 3.5 miles back with another 5 minute walk to cool down.  I also decided that it was time to break out my headphones and I'd started creating my half marathon play list.  For the shorter runs/races I sort of enjoy being unplugged however I've started to notice on the longer runs that I do start to get bored and I thought it'd help me stay on pace/upbeat about running for so long.  The trail was nearly empty on Monday so I happily mouthed the words to quite a few songs while I was running.  I even kept up a pretty consistent pace throughout the run so I was pleased with that.  I was also pretty excited to text Coach B when I got home to report that I had tackled 7 miles!

So here's what I was supposed to do during Week 8:
Monday: Run, 4 miles
Tuesday: Cross training or speed work
Wednesday: Run, 5 miles, Medium effort
Thursday: Strength train
Friday: Run, easy 30 minutes
Saturday: Run, 8 miles
Sunday: Rest

Here's what I actually did:

Monday: Run, 7 miles
Tuesday: Bike 11.69 miles, Strength train
Wednesday: Run, 5.5 miles (includes warm-up/cool-down walk)
Thursday: Speed work and bike (in the gym)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Run about 4 miles, walked the rest = total 8 miles
Sunday: Run, 3 miles

I am super disappointed in my performance during the group run.  My stomach had been bothering me all day to the point where I took some Tylenol (I rarely take anything) and I just couldn't seem to get it together last night.  On top of that I tried some Gatorade chews around mile 6 and shortly after that my stomach started to feel even worse.  The last few group runs we've done I've struggled but when I run on my own I seem to be fine.  I might try running on my own during the group run next weekend so I can just focus on running and go at my own pace.  No excuses.

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