Half-Marathon Training Review: Week 12

Hey there everyone!! How was your weekend?  For those of you who celebrate, did you have a wonderful Easter?  I definitely did!  I got to leave work a bit early on Friday, so Sadie and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and enjoyed a nice long walk around the park.  She was well aware of Atlanta's overpopulation of squirrels and treed more than one squirrel during our walk.  Gotta keep them in check, right? Silly goose.

Friday evening, the boyman, his sister and I all went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Apres Diem.  It was really great to see Jesse's sister and dinner was delicious!  Saturday, I completed my longest run to date- 11 miles!  Afterward, I headed down to see my grandparents and then skipped on over to our lake house to spend the rest of the weekend with my parents.  It ended up being just what I needed.  To celebrate Easter (and the fact that I could eat meat again), we had a delicious surf & turf supper after church.  We managed to cook the meat to perfection on my dad's new Big Green Egg.  Dad actually let me do the grilling and with his supervision, we ended up with quite the tasty meal!  I was quite proud of myself.

It was delicious and we washed the meal down with plenty of Easter goodies (Reese's Eggs anyone??).  The only thing that could have made it better would have been if my sister, my new brother-in-law, and my boyman could have been there with us. 

I took it easy again this week on training, but still managed to log 4 hours of exercise and 19.71 miles of running (plus my morning walks and an extra 2.5 mile walk on Friday).  With everything that has been going on, I was thrilled to get so much of my running completed.  I technically missed one three-mile run, but I am counting my walk on Friday as that run.  :)  Here is a breakdown of my daily exercise from April 2, 2012 to April 8, 2012:

• Monday - out of town / rest
• Tuesday - 2.92 mile outdoor run
• Wednesday - morning walk with Sadie / rest
• Thursday - 5.34 mile outdoor run (my favorite hilly route!)
• Friday - 2.5 mile walk
• Saturday - 11.45 mile outdoor run (PDR!)
• Sunday - rest

Though I technically only worked out (aka broke a sweat/got out of breath) three days this week, I still feel good about the effort I put in and am looking forward to getting back completely on track this week.  I've got my bag packed for my Body Works class tonight and I can't wait! I know it will be good to feel the burn again.

My 11 mile run went really well, and was also a PDR!  I made pretty good time and took minimal walking breaks. 

Sadie came with me and we found out she is famous in a certain part of town!  A man recognized her while we stopped to refill our water bottles (puppies gotta drink too!). I thought that was so neat!  I also really enjoyed my route which took me through some beautiful Atlanta neighborhoods.  The route was quiet and less crowded than the usual areas I run which I really appreciated.  Jesse helped me map the route and it is one I look forward to doing again soon.

I think things went so well because I've allowed myself to rest whenever I felt it was necessary over the past few weeks.  Instead of pushing myself past my limits, I've listened to my body and given myself some breaks.  It has really removed a lot of the stress I've felt lately with training, and I found myself looking forward to my long run on Saturday.  That excitement kept me going at points in the run where I previously would have been tempted to give up.  It felt really good to have a renewed appreciation for running.  It makes me thankful that I listened to my body and allowed myself rest when I really needed it.

If you missed them and are interested, here are my recaps from weeks one, two, three,  four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven.  Less than three weeks to go!

Sorry the post is up so late today- responsibilities at work kept me from taking an earlier lunch and I usually write on my lunch break.  Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow!  Until then, tell me...

What is your favorite Easter candy? 
What was the best thing you ate over the weekend? 
Are you as jealous of all the spring breakers as I am?