Fitness Friday – Half Marathon Training Update

My half marathon is only two weeks away, and I finally did it – a long run!

Like most challenging things in my life, it wasn’t so bad once I stopped stressing out about it and started doing it. It was a cool, crisp, and clear morning, and my P90X team decided to accompany me!

It’s 2.25 miles around the lake, so I decided I was going to circle it 4 times.
At the end of the first loop, 유씨 stopped running and played basketball instead.
At the end of the second loop, 유씨 and my brother-in-law were playing basketball. I guess my sister was still going around.
At the end of the third loop, 유씨 was still at the basketball court but my sister and BIL had left.
At the end of the fourth loop, I was still feeling pretty good! But it was time to go home.

Some observations about this long run:

• I forgot my sunglasses! It was just dawn when we left the house, but 유씨 gave me his. That’s true love.
• I’m going to have to get one of those waist pouches for the half-marathon. I used the pocket on my hand-held water bottle for my stuff today, but I don’t carry my own water for races since I use the hydration stations as an excuse to slow down and walk for a few seconds.
• I carry a lot of stuff with me, but I need more. Three tissues ain’t cutting it in this high-pollen season, and I need a sunscreen stick.
• Most importantly, my iPod still had around half its battery life when I finished, so I think it will last all 13.1 miles.

Because it was a hilly course, I decided to go slowly and programmed intervals into my Runkeeper app – two miles running, one mile walking. I’ve noticed that when I’m on the treadmill, even if I walk for longer periods, my overall time is still under 12 minutes/mile because I can go faster on the running portions. But today, my time was not that great. I was dismayed to see that it took me two hours to complete. It was pretty slow going, even on the downhill.

No matter, I did it! This makes me feel more confident about the half marathon (in two weeks!). I also signed up for a combo 5K/10K on Thanksgiving day and I know I can do that too.

When I got home, I took an ice bath. I first read about it on my friend Samantha’s blog, 24 to 30. The ice bath was probably the most brutal part of the run. I did it a little bit differently – I filled the tub with cold water and then got in. Mistake! Filling-while-sitting is probably an less of a shock! I sat for a while, then dumped in some ice while I sat, and waited for 10 minutes. Adding a Lush bath bomb did not make it any more pleasant, truth be told.

Does Ovaltine count as a recovery drink? I got sample sachets of Ovaltine in the mail a while ago and decided to try them today while sitting in the ice bath. Um, not too terribly tasty, but the hot drink definitely did help with the cold.

I didn’t think the ice bath made a difference on Saturday – my feet were swollen like a sasquatch and my knee was really stiff. But! The next morning I leaped out of bed with just a little bit of soreness. I will be ice-bathing again (when I do this run again next weekend). Thanks for the idea, Samantha!

Don’t forget! P90X Challenge pack is on sale until October 31