Run-Hike-Play: Brooklyn RnR Half Marathon Training Week 8 & Weekly Wrap 8/31-9/6

Here's a recap of last week's workouts:

Monday 8/31 - First time using the bosu ball and did the Long and Lean workout that we got from the DVD that incorporates yoga and pilates routines. It was a nice change and it was fun trying to stay balanced.

Tuesday 9/1 - 3 mile run.

Wednesday 9/2 - 7.5 mile run that was supposed to be a fast run but I was just not feeling it.

Thursday 9/3 - T25 Beta Speed 2.0

Friday 9/4 - 4 mile run.

Saturday 9/5 - 9 mile long run with friends.

Sunday 9/6 - rest day.

The week went ok. I got my cross-training in but my run especially the 7.5 mile run got me thinking about my training plan. I just was not feeling it running 7.5 miles on a weekday and it was supposed to be an 8:40-9:26 build up run. I was actually pretty nervous running that morning, just about reaching those times and I think it really got to me. I started out fine and on pace but I just could not maintain the speed and then eventually gave up. Humidity was a factor too but it still made me realize that maybe this plan was just not working for me.

I figure I should not be nervous this early on should I? I felt like I was about to start a race, that sort of nervous. Is that weird? I don't want training to be nerve racking. I love running and when it feels like it's not as fun is when I need to re-evaluate. So I have resorted back to the Hal Higdon Intermediate Training plan that I had used before I tried out the MyAsics app. It worked really well last year for me and I was never nervous about making or meeting a specific time and it seems more me. I just was not liking how I would have to do two 7.5 mile runs at a pretty fast pace. Seemed a bit long and for the next couple of weeks, even fast longer runs. I think I would like to save the fast long runs until race day!

Anyway here is what next week looks like for me from Hal Higdon's Plan:

Week
8

Sunday
Stretch & strengthen

Monday
4.5 m run

Tuesday
40 min tempo

Wednesday
3 m run + strength

Thursday
Rest

Friday
5 m pace

Saturday
10 m run

As to the weekend, Saturday morning started out with my 9 mile long run. I got to run with some friends which is always nice. This isn't even the full group as we all had different lengths to run and some left earlier and some later depending on the distances we had to run that day.

Our condo is officially on the market (it was put up Wednesday) so it has been interesting having to be out of our place at certain times of the day. Hubby had to volunteer for the kiddos soccer for 3 hours (if you volunteer you get some money back from registration which is nice) and during that time our condo was being shown twice. So what did I do with the kiddos? I took them out geocaching! We found a total of 7 on Saturday. Some were at parks, by the side of the road, or by the Princeton Shopping Center. 6 year old was awesome and helped find 3 of them.

I didn't want to slam my Instagram feed with all our geocache finds so I made a new account just for our geocaching finds. If interested in following our geocaching adventures, you can follow along at http://instagram.com/geocachefinds/.

On Sunday, we headed into the City to play in Central Park for most of the day. We found a geocache, met up with some of Hubby's friends, picnicked, played soccer, climbed rocks, and even had some yummy gelato.