Boston Training Week 7 Re-Cap & KP Half Marathon Race Report
I'll be honest, I had to look up what week of "training" this was in my training plan. Running and bike riding this past week was not about getting in the right workout at the right time based on some calculated plan, it was about being with friends and listening to my body and doing it because I love it and because its beautiful. I had a race on Sunday, but I did pretty much the opposite of every pre-race thing you are supposed to do: I drank way too much wine on Friday night, I rode 12 miles and over 1,000 feet of elevation on Saturday, I didn't really eat or sleep very much the entire week. But it's funny because I got a comment on the Strava post for my half marathon yesterday that said "whatever you are doing, its working". I say this not to brag but because I think the lesson I finally really learned is that your body can only have so much preparation and after a certain point, running is a huge mental game. I PR'd on Sunday not because I did everything right in training and preparation, I PR'd because I was fueled by the strength of my friends and family cheering me on. I PR'd because I was filled with so much emotion from one of the toughest weeks of my life but also one of the most heart opening weeks of my life that I felt like I could do anything. I have a hunch that many of my fellow NP runners felt something similar based on the amount of ridiculous PRs we saw yesterday. Just for some inspiration here are a couple: One guy who has been racing for less than a year took 12 minutes off his half marathon PR, that's almost a minute per mile shaved off his pace. Another fine young lady ran only her 2nd half marathon and took 19 minutes off her PR. Totally insane!! I can do all of the physical work I need to to be prepared for my next race, but it is people like this who will be my main inspiration cause holy shit, that's freaking awesome. As for the race itself, it was beautiful and fun and I made sure to smile at every hard part because that's what Sam would do. I laughed when I saw the NP cheer station at mile 8 and I started choking up when I saw them at mile 12. At the finish, I waited for my friends who I knew were just a few minutes behind me and then I jogged down to the cheer station to support my other friends who I knew were still on the course. I ran alone this time but something that occurred to me as I was standing waiting for the gun to go off, in San Francisco, I am never really running alone. (I know, I know, I stole Strava's line). Week 7
Monday - 5 Miles with obstacles & exercises with friends
Tuesday - Yoga
Wednesday - 2 Miles of stairs - NP PR Wednesday
Thursday - 7.8 miles on trails
Friday - 4.5 Miles with some lovely ladies + Yoga + PT
Saturday - 12 Miles riding
Sunday - 1 Mile warm up , 13.2 Mile Race @ 6:46/mile, .5 Mile cool down
Total: 34 Miles
Goal for week 8: >40 Miles and Recovering for a hard week 9