Frederick Half Marathon Training – Week 4

Hello and Happy Monday!!!

Last week was a cluster.  Monday I went to Cleveland for work and didn’t come home until Thursday.  I don’t mind work travel, but when I’m with co-workers I usually work longer days, get dinner with them and don’t really get “home” to my room until late.  So I haven’t had much time to blog, think about blogging, or even attempt to read all the blogs I follow.  And Cleveland…WOOO! with feels like temps in the negatives, I’m so over this winter.  Aren’t we all though?  When I landed in Baltimore Thursday, it was in the 30s and I was ready to ditch my coat and put on some shorts.

Last week was also a cluster because while I was conducting interviews and trying to hire people to my company, a restructuring was announced that basically eliminated my region.  A few people lost their jobs and several others were orphaned at the time since their managers were now gone.  It was very sudden and unexpected.  Thankfully, because of the nature of my role and the states that I cover, I was pretty much unaffected, other than becoming part of a new region.  My director is still in place but my other manager is only going to be onboard for a few more months to assist with some transition. I work for a publically traded company so these things happen in corporate America, but it’s sad to lose some of my teammates and colleagues.  I hope everyone lands somewhere and that they aren’t unemployed for too long, but still thankful that I am left unscathed.

Let’s talk about something fun, I finally hung up the medal display I got last year for Mother’s Day.  Two of those are actually Charlotte’s medals.  I hung it in the living room by the foyer, so I see it every time I leave the house.  Maybe it will give me power as I head out in the early morning.

Onto a Frederick Factoid (I’m actually running kinda low on these…might have to make them Maryland Factoids)

Frederick Factoid #3

For those of you like craft beer, you may have heard of Flying Dog Brewery.  Well, they are based in Frederick!  They are available in 20 states outside of Maryland, so odds are you might be able to find it.  Last summer, I enjoyed their Dead Rise Summer Ale (made with a hint of Old Bay).  This spring I’m looking forward to trying their Supertramp Tart Cherry Ale.  If you like craft beer, they have quite a variety to try.  You can visit the brewery on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays for a tour and even get a 64 oz growler of one of their beers filled to take home (not for free).  I’m thinking that a Brewery Tour might be on my agenda the next time I visit.

Now on to the workouts!

Sunday – PT, Core Work, & Yoga – Nothing out of the ordinary here

Monday – Body Pump 30 Day Shred Level 2 & 3 – Brian had to get to work early, so I had to do a video at home. I don’t think I had ever seen Level 3 before, it was pretty intense, especially after already doing level 2.

Tuesday – Speed Work Tempo – I was thinking ahead on my schedule and decided to swap out the intervals for Tempo (since I had skipped the tempo last week).  It was tough for some reason, but I got it done.

Wednesday – Yoga – This was at a studio in Cleveland.  This was a Basic Flow class and I was a little intimidated when I first walked in because the class was HUGE and the others there just looked like they shouldn’t be in a basics class.  I found a spot to roll out my mat and I was eavesdropping on some girls talking behind me and realized they weren’t yoga experts, so I felt more at ease.  It was in a big open warehouse space and the teacher walked around the room rather than sitting up front.  She and another assistant also walked around touching and adjusting as necessary.  There were also a lot of heavy breathers.  At first I thought there was a CD or something playing but then realized that it was everyone’s breathing.  The class flowed really well and quickly, I was happy to know most poses and was able to move into them quickly.  I had a brief moment during Warrior pose where I was feeling very powerful.  With the work announcement from Tuesday, when a lot was still unknown, I knew I was going to get through it and be okay.

Thursday – Tempo Rest – I was flying back home this day and figured I would take advantage of not having to get up for ANYTHING!  I slept until 7 and it was glorious.  (I’m typically getting up at 5, so 7AM is late for me)

Friday – Rest Easy 3 Miles – Since I missed a run earlier in the week, I just went in for an easy 3.  It actually felt easy.

Saturday – Long Run 6 Miles – This was on the treadmill and not so bad.  I took a walk break about 45 minutes in to give myself a mental break, and then trudged on along.  The treadmill stopped on me at the hour mark, so then I had to restart.  Overall for some reason this run was easier than last week (2 less miles will do that to you.)

Total Miles – 12.3

Next week is another long run – 8-10.  I may try for 9.  The closer I get to 10 miles though, I get nervous.  During my training last fall, I got injured after my 10 mile run.  Yeah I’ve run a half marathon, but I’ve only run more than 10 miles once.  Plus, I need to get back outside!!  I’m afraid the transition outside is going to be awful.  If I get ahead of myself though, next weekend will probably be on the treadmill (I don’t want a long run to be my first run outside in several weeks).  The weekend after that I have back to back 5Ks.  So maybe in three weeks, when I will probably attempt 10 – it will be warm and I can go outside and have a few more outdoor runs under my belt.

If this winter has taught me anything, if I ever do a marathon, it will be a fall one.  Winter training sucks!

How do you transition outside after being inside for several weeks?  Anyone else have any races this month, big or small?  Anything good happen over the weekend?