{week 6} Training for the Santa Rosa 1/2 Marathon

There's a sweet moment in training when you feel all the work and effort is starting to pay off in stamina, speed and strength. Both Dani and I are half-way through our training for the Santa Rosa 1/2 Marathon and we both hit it this past week. We've had to overcome injuries, focus on correcting imbalances and add time for rest and recovery (It's taken me all these years of running to finally GET this). With 33 days until race day, we both feel we can run a strong race. 

As I wrote before, this week marks my last week of training specifically for the half-marathon because next week I start 18-weeks of training for the California International Marathon. I'm excited for CIM because: 1) I had to defer last year's race due to injury 2) I love running in Sacramento and 3) A large group of my Oiselle Volée teammates are running it this year. My goal for 2016 is to run a strong marathon. Marathon success is based on good pacing and nutrition. Both of which I need to work on improving and both of which are my focus in the weeks ahead. I'm particularly excited to focus on nutrition because I am going to start working with a nutritionist in August to help me figure out the best fueling strategies for me (races, long runs, etc). As for pacing, I'm going to start running with pacing groups again. 

Week 6 Training

Monday, July 25: Rest or Cross-train
Tuesday, July 26: 4 miles, easy
Wednesday, July 27: 5 miles, easy
Thursday, July 28: 8 miles with intervals (1x400, 5x800, 1x400)
Friday, July 29: Rest or Cross-train
Saturday, July 30: 16 miles, long-run
Sunday, July 31: 6 miles, easy