Training Plan

Ok, a billion years ago I promised to post about my training plan. So, now i'm following through, even if i'm on week 5. This has given me enough time to say I like this plan so far. I'm using the Hal Higdon Intermediate Half Marathon plan. It looks like this:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Stretch & Strengthen	3 m run	5 x 400 5-K pace	3 m run + strength	Rest	3 m run	5 m run
2	Stretch & Strengthen	3 m run	30 min tempo	3 m run + strength	Rest	3 m pace	6 m run
3	Stretch & Strengthen	3.5 m run	6 x 400 5-K pace	3 m run + strength	Rest	Rest	5-K Race
4	Stretch & Strengthen	3.5 m run	35 min tempo	3 m run + strength	Rest	3 m run	7 m run
5	Stretch & Strengthen	4 m run	7 x 400 5-K pace	3 m run + strength	Rest	3 m pace	8 m run
6	Stretch & Strengthen	4 m run	40 min tempo	3 m run + strength	Rest or easy run	Rest	10-K Race
7	Stretch & Strengthen	4.5 m run	8 x 400 5-K pace	3 m run + strength	Rest	4 m pace	9 m run
8	Stretch & Strengthen	4.5 m run	40 min tempo	3 m run + strength	Rest	5 m pace	10 m run
9	Stretch & Strengthen	5 m run	9 x 400 5-K pace	3 m run + strength	Rest or easy run	Rest	15-K Race
10	Stretch & Strengthen	5 m run	45 min tempo	3 m run + strength	Rest	5 m pace	11 m run
11	Stretch & Strengthen	5 m run	10 x 400 5-K pace	3 m run + strength	Rest	3 m pace	12 m run
12	Stretch & Strengthen	4 m run	30 min tempo	2 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon

I modified it a little bit because I really like having more of a taper week before my last half, so I basically added in another week, just before the race, where the LR is only 6 miles.

The biggest difference between this and my last plan is mileage. The last training cycle I think my peak week had about 22-23 miles. Last week I was already at 19. I REALLY felt it on monday - I was beat. In addition, work is still super stressful, and shows no signs of letting up. So on top of being physically exhausted, I've got a million things running through my mind at night and have had trouble falling asleep.

Yesterday I opted to do my run in the afternoon. Monday's are generally pretty stressful at work so I figured I'd do an afternoon run to blow of steam. That was the right decision. I thought it would negatively effect my performance on speed work today, but it did not! I don't know where the energy came from but I was ripping through my 400s. Negative splits (starting at about 2:13/interval and ending at about 2:08) and I felt strong all the way through, which was awesome.

Love when it all comes together!!

I promise I will soon get back to posting more regularly. :)