Gretch Runs

Hi everyone!  Today I'm excited to share my Buffalo Creek Half Marathon recap with all of you.  If you've been following along, you know that I've been training for this race for the past 10 weeks, and my goal was to average an 8:30 pace (which would be a 1:51:26 half marathon).  My previous PR was 1:54:34, so I just would have been happy with anything under this time. I was excited to do this race because a lot of my local running friends have their PR's on this course.  It's known for being a fast course, because it's pretty much all downhill (just look at that elevation chart), and is on a crushed limestone trail so you don't have to worry about making turns or hitting the tangents.  Plus, this is a mid-October race in Pennsylvania on a shaded trail, so the weather is usually perfect for running. I drove up to the race with Jessie , and parking was really easy.  The race starts at a church in Cabot, and there were lots of volunteers out directing ...

Hi everyone!  Last week was my 10th week of half marathon training, which meant that it was race week!  After putting in tons of miles and hours of recovery, would all my hard work payoff?  Keep reading to find out! Monday Rest Day I had run 3 days in a row the week before (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) so I took Monday off.  Selma and I went on a long walk and I did some yoga! Tuesday 3 miles Nice and easy run around the park.  Nothing special about this run, but I had to keep reeling in my pace! Wednesday 5.75 miles / 9:13 pace The final speed workout!  This one was called "Fun Reminder" and was supposed to be easy- 1 mile warmup, 2x1 mile at goal pace, then 2x half mile at goal pace, followed by 1 mile cool down.  Jessie and I met up early before work to get this done, and it wasn't too bad!  We had no trouble hitting our paces and it felt great.  Wouldn't really call it "fun" but it was a good final work...

Well friends, it's time for another half marathon!  This has been my best and most fun training cycle so far, and I made it through without any issues or roadblocks at all (knock on wood..still have a few days left!).  I kept waiting for an injury or sickness or something to come and derail my training, but it never seemed to happen. Here are a few things that I changed about my training this time around, that really seemed to make a difference: - I started with a really solid base .  It seems like when I start training for a race, I'm starting off at ground zero and have to build up mileage.  This time around, I made sure that I was already able to run at least 8 miles, and my weekly mileage was hovering around 25 miles (you might also remember that I did my first run streak right before training started!).  This made it so much easier to get right into training, and I could tell that I was improving pretty much immediately. - I stretched or did yoga af...

Just like that, it's already race week.  I swear, this training cycle went by so quickly , and it's hard for me to believe that I've already completed 9 weeks of training, and on Saturday I'll be racing another half marathon.  I have so many conflicting thoughts and goals for the race and honestly don't know what to expect.  I'm going to try to get my thoughts together and share them later this week.  As for now, let's take a look at how my final week of training went: Monday SUP Yoga / 1 hour I had the day off work for Columbus Day, but had absolutely no desire to go running.  I was still feeling annoyed by having a really bad final long run and wanted to give myself a day off to get my head together.  I decided the best thing to do would be going out on the lake on my paddle board and just relax.  I went to a more secluded area and it was so relaxing.  I also ended up taking Selma out for an extra-long walk, so overall it was a gr...

Another week down and we're getting closer and closer to race day!  I'm not going to lie- these past two weeks have not been great.  I think the weather constantly changing (cold and crisp one day and humid and hot the next) is messing with me, and I've been feeling sick and worn down.  So- this week I didn't have the best workouts- minus my speed workout!- but, I got it done and we're officially in the taper!  Here's a look at my week- Monday 5 miles / 9:39 pace After work I headed to the park to get in an easy run.  The weather was perfect and the entire run felt great! Tuesday 6 miles / 8:51 pace I met up with Jessie to get this workout done before work.  The plan was 1 mile warm up, then 4 miles with each getting faster (starting at goal half marathon pace + 20 seconds and finishing with 10 seconds under goal pace) and 1 mile cool down.  Even though our mile warm up felt really awful and stiff, we ended up hitting our g...

Happy week 6!  Now that I'm past the halfway point of training, the race feels really real  right now.  So, I took my long run on the road and ran on the race course!  I'm starting to feel more and more prepared, and I can't wait to see if all of this hard work pays off on race day. Monday 5 miles / 9:33 pace I had to wake up super early this morning so I just went on my run before the sun went up. Loved the weather, even if it was kind of dark and foggy, so I was getting spooky vibes! Tuesday Stand-up Paddleboard / 2 hours It was a beautiful day, so I took out my paddleboard to the lake.  I didn't do anything too strenuous, but it felt great to be out on the water. Wednesday 6.25 miles / 8:24 pace Speed workout day!  This was the "switchblade"- 1 mile warm up, 2x2 miles, 1 mile cool down. Goal for the 2 miles was first mile at 10 seconds over HMP, second mile at 10 seconds under HMP. My goal is 8:10 pace, ...

...and just like that, I'm at the half way point of training.  Things continued to go well this week, with a perfect speed workout to start off the week and another 10 miler to end the week.  In between these two workouts I took a quick trip to Baltimore.  Overall- a successful week.  Here's a look at what I did: Monday 7 miles / 8:24 pace Amazing workout today! 8x800m repeats at my half goal pace. Last time I did this workout (back at the beginning of the year) I couldn't finish and pretty much gave up on my training after that. This time around I was nervous but promised myself I would finish. Ended up CRUSHING it! My goal was 4:00 per 800 to meet my goal pace. Ended up running 3:53 for my first repeat, and took a few seconds off each time until I got to a 3:35. I still felt good so for my 8th repeat I went all out and got a 3:10!!  I'm really proud of myself for mentally pushing past this workout and physically having the speed to hit my paces...

Hi everyone!  I had another great week of training, which included a fantastic speed workout and my first double digit long run.  Here's to hoping that the good training weeks continue! Monday Rest Day We came back from our camping trip in Ohio, so I decided to take the day off of running.  Great decision! Tuesday 5 miles / 9:34 pace I went out on a humid but cool run around my neighborhood, and did some yoga once I got home.  Selma joined in! Wednesday 7 miles / 9:22 pace I specifically remember this speed workout from last year and was looking forward to doing it again this year.  The plan was 1 mile warm up, 2 miles at half marathon pace plus 15 seconds, 6 x 30 second hill repeats, another 2 miles at the same pace, and 1 mile cool down.  I got to do this workout with Jessie again, and we ended up crushing our goal of 8:25 miles, and hit 8:16, 8:10, 8:17, 8:09.  The hills were definitely a challenge in the m...

Happy Labor Day (or just a regular Happy Monday to those who don't celebrate!).  This was another excellent week of training.  There were a few things thrown my way that would have put me off my plan in the past, but this time around I just made a few adjustments and made. it. work.  I'm feeling so excited and motivated to keep training! Here's a look at my week: Monday 4 miles / 9:35 pace Great morning run today. Weather was perfect and I felt great! Took me a while to get warmed up, and I love my splits from this run- 10:45, 9:26, 9:05, 9:04. Typical morning run! Tuesday 4 miles / 9:24 pace I did the same route as Monday, but did it in reverse.  I consider this way to be harder, because instead of short, steep up hills and long downhills, there are long uphills.  I felt great on this run though and was happy to see a faster pace with the same effort! Wednesday 5 miles / 8:58 pace I finally got to do a speed workout with...