Isn’t that what they say during baby deliveries?! Haha, I wouldn’t personally know. Unfortunately, this is not about bringing any sweet babies into this world but the last full week of training for Justin and myself before our big half marathon race.
How are we practically already to this point in our training?! It felt like yesterday, we were only a few months away. Now we are literally days away, 6 to be exact! AH, lots of emotions.
Saturday: The Longest Long Run Yet
This run was intimidating before we even got started. I was nervous and less than motivated but knew that I NEEDED to run this run. Even though we have been training for 5 months, give or take, I had not run 13 miles consecutively, yet. This morning was going to be the closest I would get to this number before the actual race.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “self, how could after 5 months of running you not run the length of the race you’ve been training for?” Yeah, I’ve asked myself this too. But, the training program we are following (yes, we are actually following a set program and not making this up as we go) focuses on time AND distance. We have spent a lot of these 5 months running but also working on speed work, increasing our VO2 Max, and strength. This makes a lot of our workouts focused on many aspects of running other than distances.
Mentally, I was nervous going into this long run. I knew and know deep down in my heart that I can run this distance, I really can. During this run, I doubted my abilities to do it at a certain pace and under a time pressure. I even became more self conscious when Justin said he was going to run with me. I love running with a buddy, I really do, when it’s a pressure-free and careless run. I get stressed when I’m running with someone and I am wanting to keep a certain pace or time.
I got stressed.
I had to stop and regroup around mile 3 but I eventually found my pace and fell into a groove.
Our goal for this run was 12 miles. We stopped after 11. Justin let me navigate this route 
and I ended up picking the path with the most unforgiving set of hills in Auburn. It truly was brutal on both our legs and minds.
We made it to mile 11 and proudly decided to stop and go get coffee! Crazy enough, even with the hills, this run was actually done at a 9:40 pace which is about 15 seconds slower than what I want to run the half marathon in. That was encouraging since our race trail should be flat.
We made it home and spent the entire afternoon in recovery mode…. literally.
Good news: Justin’s legs are feeling a lot better and he was able to run this run (be-it at a few minute slower of a pace) pretty well.
Sunday: Church and Then Weights!
Justin and I have found a new church home, yay! A cool part about this church is that it currently meets on Auburn’s campus at the old arena. This arena happens to be located right next door to the rec! How convenient.
Justin and I brought our gym bags with us to church! Just kidding, we left them in the car and grabbed them after the service.
We started with 1 warm up mile jog/run and then worked on some upper body strength training. Strength training is still a new concept to us but something we are really enjoying (aside from the soreness).
3×10 of bicep and triceps reps with free weights and the pulley machine (there is probably an official name for this machine but I do not know it). We followed this up with some killer abs, squats, and yoga stretches. Capped the entire workout with another 1 mile cool down jog/run.
This strength training workout surprisingly felt really good especially considering our long run from the day before.
Monday: Cross Training
Rowing into the week with a revamped level of motivation for some serious training!
With the vague threat of some winter weather, we were more than motivated to ensure that we got some sort of cardio focused workout in.
5 min easy tempo
4x (3 min hard tempo, 2 min easy tempo)
5 min easy tempo
Nothing too crazy but enough of a workout to make us workout.
Tuesday: It Was Too Cold To Do Anything!
Surprise! It didn’t snow. But, it was very cold outside (for the south). We were lazy and didn’t do anything that required working out but did everything having to do with being warm and cozy.
I was secretly hoping for just enough ice to cancel work/school but not enough to directly impact anything else.
Next time!
Wednesday: Early Bird Gets The Worm.
I distinctly remember this morning being a tough one with getting out of bed. The small amount of motivation that I had came from the difference between the 5:30am “crowd” and the 5:30pm crowd. I dragged myself up even despite the strong yearn to just stay in bed (I also believe to have been on the verge of coming down with something-NOT THIS MONTH!).
We made it to the gym and immediately noticed a larger number of cars parked in the parking lot. NO.
We parked and noticed a few large groups walk to the entrance. NO.
Well, this morning, out of all of the mornings, was one where the ROTC crew decided to bring their morning workout inside. Needless to say, we were crowd fighting. NOOOOO!
Already feeling sluggish, I quickly found myself becoming frustrated.
We were able to get a good arm, ab, and shoulder workout in and then made our way home to get a hot much needed cup of coffee.
Thursday and Friday: Sick days to NOT GET SICK
One of my co-workers was out with the flu this week aaaaand about half way through 
the week, I started feeling beyond exhausted, like 3 coffees did nothing exhausted, with a sore throat. So help me, I REFUSED to get sick this week. The race is literally around the corner and I will not be down and out. WE’VE TRAINED TOO LONG TO BE OUT! I told Justin I would crawl this half marathon if I had too!
I knew the best medicine was rest. I didn’t take any time off work (too busy of a week, unfortunately), but made sure to go to bed early (with mandatory kitty cuddles) and downed what seemed like a few gallons of lemon water.
Unbelievably, it all worked. Thank you prayers and vitamin C!
I felt like a newer person come Saturday morning. Not entirely a 100% but much better than the day prior.
Saturday: Half the distance, double the pace.
Our last long run before the race, we halved the distance and upped the pace.
That rhymed.
6 miles for both Justin and myself. I was able to get this done at a 9:22 average pace (HOLLA!) and Justin was able to run at an 8:30 pace (a little slower than wanted but ran more conservatively).
It was chilly at the beginning of the run but quickly became kind of toasty. Pullover-around-the-waist look for the win!
Overall, the run felt really good and was really encouraging for both Justin and myself. I wish we could have had more time to recover because we were definitely MORE sore than usual, but we had to hurry back home and get on the road to Birmingham for a really fun wedding shower.
So here we are, within the midst of the last week leading up to the race. We don’t really have much of a plan going into this week except to run easy miles, hydrate, rest well, and not stress! My goal is to run this race without stopping and in under 2 hours. Justin’s goal is to run this race in around 1 hour 45 minutes. Ultimately, we just want to have fun and not let our competitive natures get the better of us. No matter how we finish, we will be so proud of this accomplishment. This is the first thing that both Justin and I have decided to start, wade through the weeds, and finish together. It’s been a really trying experience but one that has grown into a newfound passion and hobby.
I would say that I’m kind of sad that this race is here and our training is over BUT Justin has already signed us up for a 10K race in March. 🙂
Run Boxes Run!
Run Box Run 