The hay is officially in the barn, so to speak, as I approach the Publix Savannah Women’s Half Marathon this weekend. I have been running for fun (or running through pregnancy and postpartum build-back) for so long (years at this point!!!) that I’d nearly forgotten how fun it can be to work hard and train with focus and intensity. It has been a transformational past three months of training as I reintroduced speed work and purposeful training back into my running. As I think about how I’m feeling at the start of race week, I would say peacefully confident. I’m at peace with everything … my running, my effort, my balance. I feel proud of the work I’ve put in and regardless of what the time on the clock says on Saturday, I have a lot to be proud of in the journey back. Here is what my final month of training looked like.

Week of March 5

• Monday: Easy 5-mile run pushing Baby rUnladylike in the stroller (9:35/mile average pace)
• Tuesday: 7-mile run at 5:45 a.m. with friends with 6 x 1,000 meters in the middle of the run with a 2-minute recovery interval between each. Interval splits were 7:33, 7:25, 7:16, 7:06, 7:06, 7:09.
• Wednesday: 50-minute hot cardio sculpt class (strength training) at lunchtime
• Thursday: 6-mile easy run at 5:30 a.m. (9:17/mile average pace)
• Friday: 50-minute pilates class with lots of single leg work at 6 a.m.
• Saturday: 13 miles at 5:30 a.m. with friends with the first 7 miles easy then 2 x 2 miles at half marathon pace (7:30) + a cool down. Splits for the faster miles were 8:00, 7:44, 7:36, 7:27.
• Sunday: REST

Week of March 12

• Monday: 6-mile interval run on the treadmill at 8:15 p.m. with 5 x 5 minutes at 10K pace and 2 minutes of recovery between each. Ran the first three intervals at 7:19 and last three at 7:13 before cooling down
• Tuesday: REST + travel day for work
• Wednesday: 7-mile tempo run at 5:30 a.m. with 1-mile warm up then 4 miles at tempo pace (7:44, 7:29, 7:34, 7:22) and then 5 x 1-minute sprints (6:28, 5:47, 5:56, 5:53, 5:53) + cool down.
• Thursday: 5-mile easy run at 5:45 a.m. with friends (9:30/mile average pace)
• Friday: 30 minutes of runner-specific strength training at Disney in the hotel gym
• Saturday:14.32 solo miles around Disney’s Boardwalk and surrounding areas at 5:30 a.m. (9:12/mile average pace)
• Sunday: 30 minutes of strength training during Baby rUnladylike’s afternoon nap (21-Day Fix Extreme DVD)

Week of March 19

• Monday: 5-mile easy run pushing baby rUnladylike in the stroller (9:41/mile average pace)
• Tuesday: Botched 7-mile interval workout that turned into a 5.6-mile run at 5:45 a.m. I was supposed to run 5 x 1,000 during a 7-mile run and ended up running only 4 x 1,000 and then calling it a day. This was the worst I’ve felt all training cycle. My intervals were 6:53, 7:19, 7:20 and 7:04. It felt like I was running through mud. I knew it was better to cut this one short than push through feeling terrible.
• Wednesday: REST
• Thursday: REST (decided to skip my easy 6-miler for another rest day after Tuesday’s run)
• Friday: 50-minute pilates class at 6 a.m.
• Saturday: 13-mile run with a friend at 6:30 a.m. Ran the first five miles easy and then had 2 x 3 miles at half marathon pace. Our sets were 7:30, 7:22, 7:21 and 7:21, 7:20 and 7:09. Then a final mile cool down. This was a huge confidence booster after Tuesday’s run and two weeks out from race day.
• Sunday: 45 minutes of strength training including P90X3 upper body DVD and runner-specific strengthening exercise for hips and glutes

Week of March 26 (Taper)

• Monday: 5-mile easy run after work solo (9:03 average pace)
• Tuesday: 7-mile run with 4 x 1-mile repeats (7:08, 7:00, 7:06, 7:16) at 5:30 a.m. with a friend
• Wednesday: REST
• Thursday: 8-mile solo tempo run at 5:30 a.m. with the six middle miles at tempo pace (7:43, 7:37, 7:44, 7:27, 7:37, 7:25). This was a really hard run. At the mid-way point I was ready to throw in the towel. My paces felt so much harder than what I was running and I was running slower than my goal pace. I gave myself a pep talk and decided to go after it. I’m so glad I reframed my thinking as this was an important workout to remember going into race day.
• Friday: REST
• Saturday: 10-mile easy run with friends at 5:30 a.m. (8:59/mile average pace)
• Sunday: REST: It was Easter AND my birthday (first time my birthday has ever fallen on Easter) and we had a pretty fabulous weekend celebrating on Saturday and Sunday with delicious meals, egg hunts and family fun.

This week I have just two easy runs and one short interval workout and then it is showtime. I’ll share more about my race goals later this week so stay tuned. And be sure to follow me on Instagram to see live updates from my training and race weekend.

What is your next race? How is your training going?