Half-Marathon Training - Week 1

So on Monday I started my "official" training for the OKC Half Marathon in April. I downloaded Hal Higdon's Novice training app and I love it so far. Basically you plug in your race date and it tells you what to do every single day leading up to the race, including rest days, cross training, etc. I was nervous last week to start training because I had some weird sensations in my leg. It felt sore and I had some shooting pain up and down it. I took last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off and when I ran for the first time on Tuesday I was very grateful that I could actually run. All those times I was just lazy and didn't go out compared to being able NOT to run really makes a difference.

Monday: Rest day, according to the app. I went to the gym in the morning and did some resistance band training, stretching, ab work, etc. I was all over the place. I really went because I weigh myself on Monday mornings so I wanted to know how much weight I had lost that week. I ended up being there for only about 30 minutes total

Tuesday: First run of my training! I decided to wake up early and run, and I felt great the whole time. But as soon as I got home, my allergies had been set off. I was sneezing and my nose was running the whole day. I ended up taking 2 hours for lunch and went home and slept. I felt awful all day.

Wednesday: I had the option to run 2 miles or cross-train. After my allergy-ridden day, I decided to run after work. It's been cold here, but I absolutley hate the treadmill. The track would have been okay for two miles but I'm not sure how my gps tracking would hold up inside (It didn't work on my runkeeper) the two miles were fine!

Thursday: Another 3 mile run. It was seriously cold and started raining after I got off work. But I sucked it up, dressed in layers and knocked out 3 miles on an out-and-back from my house. I felt great after! I went out for drinks and appetizers with two of my friends and was STARVING. 

Friday: Rest day, according to my app. I went to an early-morning yoga class (5:30 came really soon after 2 cocktails the night before) with one of my friends and it was awesome! I've been going to third-street yoga and this morning I tried Kundalani yoga. It's different, uses a lot of breath work and different moves I have never done before. I thought I would feel awake and invigorated like I do when I work out in the morning but I was actually relaxed and didn't have that boost of energy like I usually do when I hit the gym around 6. Sushi dinner and movies with my old roomies made for a great Saturday. 

Saturday: on Saturday I was suposed to cross-train for 30 minutes. I didn't end up doing it. I had driven to Norman the night before for Abby's birthday and didn't end up falling asleep until 4 am after hanging out and then talking with Bryce. Then I had to drive back to Edmond early, shower, get ready and drive back to OKC to go Bridesmaid dress shopping for Katelyn's wedding! The whole crew was there. We started off at the mall and after not finding much we snuck an appointment to a bridal store, we found a dress (like, exactly what Katelyn wanted) that was gorgeous, all got measured and got the dresses ordered! We had a late lunch/dinner at Cafe 501 and I had a red velvet cake ball. For some reason I've been craving sweets (especially red velvet cake) like no other! I don't keep chocolate in my house because I'll seriously eat it all. I'm so excited for Katelyn's wedding. It seems like just yesterday we were laying in our beds in the sorority house talking about when we would get married! Then I drove to my parents house to do some laundry, and I ended up falling asleep very early. I was exhausted. 

Sunday: I had been dreading this run all day. I knew that Sunday's were my long run and it was freezing cold outside. I'm at my parents house so I drove to a park in town to try to knock out the 4 miles I had to run. I procrastinated all day when I just decided to get it over with. It was about 25 degrees outside when I finally went. The first 2 miles were just dreadful and then I hit my stride at mile 3. I fought the last mile the whole time. The wind was blowing and I was just so mad. But when I looked at my time, I realized my 4 mile time had been improved by 5 minutes! I was shocked. A few weeks ago I ran 4 miles in 55 minutes. I think the fact that I wanted to get out of the cold and I didn't have to wait at stoplights like I do in Edmond helped me with my time. I rewarded myself with a blonde roast coffee from Starbucks, and when I got home my dad had made salmon and a sweet potato for dinner. Even though I hated my life during, I felt great after! 

So far I'm pretty happy with my app purchase. I think $10 is a lot for a running app, but the fact that I have every single day planned out for me really seals the deal. Whenever I start walking, Hal gives me a motivational quote to start running again. 

I think every Sunday I'll post a recap of my training that week, just for my purposes and hopefully you guys find this interesting... idek I could talk about learning how to run all day. 

I'm finishing one load of laundry and then I'm going back to Edmond to clean and relax before another long week of work. Next weekend I'm heading down to Dallas with Jess to run in The Color Run! If you've never heard about it: The Color Run. It's not a timed 5k, so it will be a fun race to remind me why I'm doing this, anyway. I'm so excited! 

Mal xoxo

Miles run this week: 12.04