Week 9/17 HM Training - Run #1 11.5K (& Phase II Begins)

Let's hear it for the end of eight weeks of Phase I: Road Work - woooooo hoooooo! It has not been the easiest eight weeks - there were lots of 'hits' and lots of 'misses.' I'll cover all that in a separate, analysis post. For now, I'll just let out out a wooooo and a hoooooooo to celebrate!

And now, cue the trumpets ... TA DA! I am officially entering Phase II: Strength Work. I have to say that I really like how this training program breaks the training up into three different phases. Similar to the way I split up my long run the other day into three, shorter separate runs 'psychologically,' I find it more enjoyable to have my HM training split into separate, focused parts.

For an overview on what is involved, see my separate post on Phase II: Strength Work.

As for my run this morning ... :) It was a gorgeous, sunny morning - warm without being too crazy warm, no humidity and a slight breeze. Sweet! I enjoyed being out there and found myself zoning out into my thoughts. Usually this is a good thing, but today I forgot to turn around in the park earlier (my usual 11.5K route) and instead turned later, which is my 13K route. As a result, while I was running up Riverside Hill today, I reached 11.5K at its midpoint. Rather than stopping on a hill, I kept going and ran a short recovery at the top to make it an even 12K. I am really pleased to see how much easier this is hill is for me to run up these days from beginning to end. :) Angus was dragging near the end of it (starting at around 9K). It was just a touch too warm for him to be running this distance, but he is such a trooper!

Hill work tomorrow. :P

*****

On a sad note, the death of a student at Niagara Falls has been in the news lately. For me, it was such a huge, special thrill to finish my half marathon right at the Horseshoe Falls. I love the photo of me with my medal with the Falls in the background (it's at the foot of my blog and keep in mind that I had just run for hours so it's the background that looks great, not me!). This was such a stupid, preventable death. :(