After nailing all 4 workouts as planned in week 1, I missed my gym workout in week 2. It was only 1 workout. But, it leaves me less than perfect through two weeks. I view the gym workouts as vital to my efforts in training for the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. So, it is a bit of a bummer. However, I had a family thing come up that took my time away from the gym. These things will happen. All I can do is try to lessen the amount of times they come up. With a little one at home, it will be a challenge.

So, on Tuesday, I got out for my next 4 mile training run. I kept the run 25 seconds, walk 95 seconds from the previous week. (FYI – I used these intervals all week) In Southern California, the rains continue to fall. Rather than take the run indoors, I decided to gut it out and run in the rain. The rain wasn’t as bad as the last time I ran. It was pretty steady. However, it was a drizzle….much more manageable. Here’s how the splits worked out…

As you can see, I had an even better run than any before this one. My average pace overall slowed from Saturday’s 3 miler. However, if you look at my time after 3 miles, I was ahead of where I was on Saturday! So, this run continued all the good vibes I had built in week 1! Hitting the end of mile 1 in 12:32 was a huge boost to my confidence. With the intervals I’m using, I didn’t expect to be finishing any mile in under 12 minutes. By the time I got to the end of mile 2 and realized I was just slightly over 25 minutes, my confidence soared! I knew I was going to beat the time from the previous Thursday for sure. Funny thing about this run…with the rain, I started it ready for a slower finish time. So glad I was wrong. It always feels good to be faster than the last time you ran any particular route. This run was no different. I finished the run with a smile on my face because I had beaten the previous 4 miler by almost 30 seconds!

On Thursday, I had this feeling all day long that I would be slower. If you go back to before this cycle began, I had run this same 4 mile route 5 times. Each time was faster than the time before it. So, there was bound to be a clunker coming. I didn’t sleep well enough on Wednesday night and overall felt sluggish heading into this run. However, I really want this training cycle to go well. So, I told myself not to worry about how slow this run would or would not be. I was building a training base and needed each and every run…even the slower ones.

There was no rain this time around! This is a run that amazes me as I look at the numbers because it didn’t feel like it went this well. Yes, I was slower at each mile (except mile 4). However, I wasn’t as off as I thought while I was running. I was 2 seconds slower in mile 1… 11 seconds off in mile 2… 2 seconds slower in mile 3…. and 16 seconds faster in mile 4! As I do the comparison, I was still faster after 3 miles than on Saturday! So, it wasn’t all gloom and doom. As a matter of fact, the reason this run had a better mile 4 is that I gained confidence in that mile. I could sense that I was going to be so much closer than I thought I would be at the end of mile 2. So, I kept chugging away and only finished 3 seconds slower! On a day that felt all doom and gloom, I’ll take it! This run serves a a good lesson to me…no matter how I feel, I need to get out and try. You never know what will happen.

Saturday morning’s weather forecast kept changing. By the time I woke up, it was supposed to be cloudy with a very small chance of rain. So, I took the chance and went out without any rain gear…bad idea. There were some sprinkles off and on for the first 1.75 miles. Then, I got a steady rain shower the rest of the way. The rain wasn’t too heavy. But, it was steady enough to make life a little more miserable than it would have been without the rain.

As you can see in the splits (and in the overall finish time), this was my best run of this training cycle! I totally get that it was only run number 6. But, still. It was my best! I totally thought that mile 1 would have been finished in under 12:30. So, that was a bit of a bummer. Mile 2 was not the best. Somewhere along the way, my ankle started bothering me. I’ve run with a bum ankle for one or two run intervals before. However, in mile 2, it lasted at least a half mile. That’s why this mile was so slow. Then, the rains came in steady. All I could think was…really? I was so unprepared for the rain. However, I wanted all 4 miles and I was like half way there. So, I soldiered on. The good news? At the end of mile 3, I was right at the same time as on Thursday! While running, I didn’t remember exactly where I was on Thursday. However, I did know I was close. My motivation in mile 4 was simply that I was done running in the rain. At the end of the run, I had my fastest run of the first 2 weeks and equaled my fastest average pace from one week prior. Of course, that pace was set over 3 miles. So, having the same pace with one extra mile felt pretty amazing!

This was my motivational image for the week. I may have missed my gym workout, but my running was on point with what I hoped to accomplish in the first two weeks. By having my fastest time over the 4 mile route, I felt like I was ready to up my game in week 3. The plan for week 3 is to keep the same run 25, walk 95 seconds for miles 1 and 4. However, in miles 2 and 3, I’ll switch to a run 25, walk 35 seconds intervals. Ultimately, these are the intervals I’d love to keep throughout the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. Depending on how the training goes, I might experiment with a run 30, walk 30 seconds intervals. However, for week’s 3 and 4, this is the plan for the mid-week runs. For my long run in week 3, I’ll do the run 25, walk 35 seconds for miles 2, 3 and 4 of my 5 mile run. This way, I’m book ending my runs these next two weeks with the intervals I did for weeks 1 and 2. I should bring my 4 mile runs down into the 48 minute range with this interval pattern. Not sure what to expect on the 5 miler this weekend.

Today is the opening of registration for the 2018 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend! Is there anyone out there signing up (or already signed up) for the races? Will anyone be doing the Dopey or Goofy Challenges? WDW Marathoners? WDW Half Marathoners? Last week, there was an early registration opportunity and I saw several of my running friends signing up for the Dopey. I really wanted to do the Dopey in 2018. Especially with the WDW Marathon being on an anniversary year. However, as I looked over my finances, I realized that it simply is not in the budget to go to New York City in November of this year and Orlando in early January of 2018. I did spend some time mulling over the idea of skipping the NYC Marathon in November to head out to Orlando for the Dopey Challenge. However, as I thought about how hard it is to get into the NYC Marathon, I couldn’t let the opportunity I had to run this race go. After all, if I passed on the race this year, I’d be back in the lottery the next time I wanted to run. Last year, there were around 83,000 people who put their names into the lottery. Only about 23,000 got selected. I was one of them. Thankfully, they allow you to cancel one year and have a guaranteed spot the next year (provided you pay the entry fee the next year). However, should I cancel again, I would have to get in through the lottery again. I don’t know if I’m that lucky. So, in January of 2018, I’ll follow vicariously through social media all my friends that are running at WDW.

FYI…I am mulling over the finances to head out to WDW for the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend – The Dark Side. That Kessel Run Challenge Millennium Falcon medal has been calling to me. We shall see if it’s possible.

Onto Week 3!