Owens Corning Half Training Recap: Week 11

As I wrote in a bit of a panic last week, I hit a snag on Tuesday. My knee started to hurt, I semi-hobbled home, and immediately panicked about whether I’d be able to run pain-free on race day. Wednesday was a planned cross training day, so I stuck with that, and I started off Thursday with another Pure Barre class. It’s not an easy cross training day, but I really wanted to benefit from the extra strength work, particularly for my glutes and hips. Since my knee still felt “off” during the work day, I opted to get Thursday’s miles done on the elliptical in the evening.

I think I planned to run Friday but a quick look back showed me that while I had missed a run day, I’d finished 3 Pure Barre classes, 1 yoga class, 1 run, and 1 elliptical session in the past 4 days. So I took the necessary rest day and knew I could still try and run on the weekend.

Just like last week, I met up with my brother Benji at Wildwood and we ran the red trail – a two-ish mile loop – to test out the knee. I used that as a warm-up and then ran the third mile at goal pace. I quickly decided to run the rest at an easy pace. 1.) It was hot out. 2.) The trails were naturally making goal pace more difficult to maintain. 3.) I didn’t want to push my luck on my first run back just to cross the workout off my list. I finished with 5 miles under my belt, and I felt happy.

On Sunday, I squeezed in the long run after Easter festivities. I took it super slow, and I’d give it a “B.” I just felt grateful to be running hobble-free. I tried not to focus on how measly 19 miles for the week looked (11 miles short of planned) even though I know 19 freaking miles is not nothing.

• Monday: Pure Barre
• Tuesday: (am) 2 mile warm-up, 2 x 1.5 miles at half marathon goal pace with 2 minute recovery and a 0.5 mile “cool-down” or hobble; (pm) Jasyoga’s 5-Minute Hip Reset and 25 minutes of the Sunday Reset
• Wednesday: (am) Pure Barre; (pm) Power Yoga
• Thursday: (am) Pure Barre; (pm) 5.6 miles on the elliptical
• Friday: Rest day
• Saturday: 5 miles on softer, knee-friendly trails
• Sunday: 8 mile long run
• Weekly mileage = 19 miles

It’s the Tuesday of race week as I write this, and I went on a 4 mile easy run this morning that went fine so I’m feeling optimistic. I think the key is warming up properly and getting the right muscles firing before I head out. I’m going to remain diligent about staying healthy this week, and I’ll check in later this week with my race goals!

P.S. I’m new to Jasyoga, but it’s so great. They’re also offering a free month for first-time subscribers! Highly recommend! I love that you can do a 30+ minute session or quick 5-minute resets – total game changers.

I’m linking up Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC + Holly and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.