I won't give in till I reach the end... and then I'll start again (comments welcome)

[flav]

Congratulations on improving your 10k, your perseverance is amazing!

Thank you for the wishes, happy mother day to you. Have a great celebration trip!

 

[col1]

Congratulations on the PR , enjoy Portugal

 

[azrivest]

Recap of weeks #5 and #6 out of 7 in my DopeyBadger Half Marathon training plan...

Overall I'm starting to feel tired. I can tell I'm at the end of another training cycle. My body is started to look forward to resting for a bit. 6 days/week of running is a lot, even though I'm not working.

Week of May 13th:
1) Mon EA6 - 5.95k
2) Tue EA6 M Tempo, or 2 km WU + 4 km @ M Tempo + 1 km WU + 4 km @ M Tempo + 1 km CD
We were travelling overnight on Tuesday and I knew it was going to be difficult to fit my run on Wednesday in, so I swapped my workout a day early and ended up skipping the easy run the next day.
I was not looking forward to this run as I felt tired, but I managed to hit the paces without having to push.
3) Wed EA6 - Nothing
We arrived in Porto in the afternoon and I could have gone for a run. Instead I chose to enjoy the evening with my husband drinking port wine on our balcony. I chose balance.


4) Thu EA8 - 8.18km
I ran along the Douro river. I truly am blessed to be able to do this.

We also did a lot of walking during the next two days and Porto and Gaia are super hilly, so even though I ran on flat ground, I got that hill work in. And we did a 7 glass port wine tasting in the afternoon. I'm surprised the week went as well as it did with the amount of alcohol consumed.

5) Fri EB10 + Strides - 10.04k
It poured during my run. Like shoes were sloshed. I did my strides in the middle of my run instead of at the end since that was the area where the pavement was least slippery. it was still 10km along the south bank of the Douro river, so not bad at all.


6) Sun 12 km @ Long Run + 4 km @ M Tempo - 16.01km
I was feeling completely dead and did not know where I would get the energy to run 16k, much less 4 at M Tempo. My first two km were super slow and then my body fell into a good rhythm. It's almost like I've trained for this My avg tempo pace was 6:37/km, when my prescribed pace is 6:34, so overall I'm super pleased.

(Interesting fact: the people with backpacks in these pictures are all pilgrims walking the Caminho de Santiago. There were quite a few of them on the path. The camino must be crowded this time of year.)

For a total of 5 runs and 52.18km

Week of May 20th:
We were travelling back home on Monday and I had no energy to do my run when we got back. So I pushed all my runs back.
1) Tue EA6 - 6.05k
2) Wed EA6 - 6.27km
3) Thu HM Cut, or 1 km WU + 3k @ 6:20 w/ 4 min Rest + 3k @ 6:10 w/ 4 min Rest + 3k @ 6:00 + 1 km CD
Again did this on the half marathon course to practice finishing in tough conditions when I'm tired.
4) Fri EA8 - 8.03km
6) Sat EB10 + Strides - 10.07
6) Sun Fast Finish 6 km @ EB + 6 km @ Long Run
Went out too slow for the first 6k because my brain mistakenly thought I was aiming for EA pace and just did whatever.

For a total of 6 runs and 54.29km

In theory I should go out have 5 runs this week, rest on Saturday and race my half on Sunday. Dunno if pushing all my runs back a day was the best approach as that has me running 11 days in a row from last Tuesday to next Friday. I am tired!!