WEEK 1/17 HM Training - Run #1 10K

The first day of summer ... the first day of official PR half marathon training ... and it was my worst run of 2011. I am not bothering with posting my time. I'd rather forget it. :(

Before this became my worst run of the year, I had decided to make a slight change to my training program. Tuesdays are no longer going to be "Tuneless Tuesdays." Instead, every Tuesday's run (soon to be 6 miles/11.5K on a regular basis) will be about running up Riverside Hill ... from the difficult side. :) With my last training program, I did hill workouts for three weeks during Phase II: Strength Training. At the time, it made me think about how I always avoid going up this hill. I usually run down it at the 1.5-2K mark of my runs, and then take the flatter route home, thus avoiding the incline back. I don't have scheduled hill workouts for the next 8 weeks, but I am thinking that it would be ego-boosting if, by the time I reach this training point, if I were able to run up Riverside Hill without walking/stopping. Therefore, I plan to attempt it every Tuesday for the next 8 weeks.

And this is probably why I feel even more disappointed in my run today ... because I wanted to start with a bang. I could start to list all the possible reasons why today's run went so poorly, but instead, I am just going to say, "it is what it is." Not every run is going to be great, and I'm lucky that most of my runs go well. I have had some stellar training weeks and I have also established several new PRs in the last 5 months so I am not going to beat myself up too much for needing to walk/run a 10K today.

How ironic to say in this particular post that it can only go "up" from here. :)

To finish, I did manage to run from the base of the hill to the lower entrance of Braemar Crescent before stopping to walk up the hill the rest of the way. Next week, my minimum goal is to run up the hill as far as the upper entrance to Braemar Crescent.

A new-to-me "Rock Bottom" class at the gym focusing on the glutes and leg muscles is on the agenda for tonight and an 8K is scheduled for tomorrow.