2 weeks to go

I've been about halfway as disciplined as I probably should be to be training for a half marathon.  Better than nothing, for sure.  But I think it's probably time to step it up a notch for the next couple of weeks or the race is going to be painful.

Monday, I did the scheduled run: 50-60 min w/10X15 sec fast w/ 1 min R/I (actual 50:27 w/13X15-22 second CI; Approx 4.85 miles run with a 2 min walking c/d; 83.3F, so I was reasonably pleased with the outcome.

Tuesday, I made it back to Bikram and stayed in the room the entire time.  I did almost all of the poses, too.  The Tuesday 8:15 AM class seems to be a good option for me, so I'll try to hit that one up again this week.

Wednesday, a scheduled off day, I walked 1.8 miles and did some gardening.

Thursday, I definitely cheated.  I just wasn't feeling my run, so after a couple of slow minutes, I decided to replace it with some intervals and walking recovery.  End result? 6X3 minute intervals.  35 minutes total including the walking for an uninspired total of 2.73 miles.

Friday, I took it very easy in prep for my long run on Sunday -- 3 miles without GPS data in 32:45.  Yikes, I'm slow on these easy runs.

Saturday, I had a *very* rough run.  I met up with F and Jen at the Los Gatos Creek trail.  The goal was 10 at approximately 10 minute/mile pace, which should have been extremely doable considering last week's half-marathon on gravel and with some hills which was at 9:59 pace.  I was supposed to do an additional 2 miles after the 10 with F, but that didn't happen.  From the start, I just felt off and struggled to keep up with them.  I'd let them get ahead of me then try to catch up and did manage to get back to them by the 5 mile turn-around.  However, after the turn around, they started to put some distance between us, and I just couldn't close the gap.  Eventually, I decided they must have picked up the pace and that I should just run as best I could on my own.  Thankfully, when I met up with F at the end, she agreed that they had sped up on the return.  Since I didn't bring a watch, I'm not exactly sure what my final overall pace was, but I suspect it was somewhere right around 10:00/mile.  Very slow for how much effort I put in, but sometimes it's just completing the miles that matters for my fitness, so I'm hoping this one will pay dividends despite the lackluster performance.  I am pleased with how I pushed myself despite how off everything felt.  I only stopped twice, both times for water and some energy chews.  I'm hopeful this week's long run will be much easier.

Sunday, I had a nice easy run.  We'd gone out to dinner Saturday night and our friends had driven us home, so I ran about 3 easy miles to pick up the car and drove it home.

Total mileage: 26.88 including walking w/u and c/ds.  Definitely low for 2 weeks before a half marathon.  Oh well.