It's hard to believe I'm already in the middle of week twelve of training! The race is slowing approaching and I'm getting a little more nervous by each passing day. I've enjoyed sharing this journey with all of you, it really has helped keep me accountable, it has helped me make sure I get my workouts in and it has really helped me see how much I have grown in the last few months!

Let's take a look back at week eleven of training!!

Seven mile progression run! Started out easy and finished strong. These workouts scared me at the beginning of this training cycle. I never thought that I would be able to start out evenly paced and kick it up at the end. I was always under the mentality that you just go strong right out of the gate and however far you can go, you go and power through the end, no matter what that means for your pace. Learning to slow down and consciously make the choice to finish strong has done so much for my mental strength as well. I feel much more confident in myself and my abilities!

Oi! This run was something. The boys were at school and I was supposed to get in 8 miles. It was hot but I still decided to head outside while I was kid free, taking advantage of that time! Well, I got to mile 6 and was passing my house, I was out of water and decided to stop to refill and head back out. I'm so thankful I did this. When I got up to the garage door, the garage door opener battery had died and I couldn't get in my house. I don't carry a house key with me while I run because we have the garage door opener, it never seemed necessary. I called Andrew and thankfully he was able to swing by and open the garage door for me. By the time he got home and I got in the house I had to go pick up the boys. So I finished up the last 2 miles on the treadmill later that evening.

What a day!

6 miles. Similar to the progression run but kept the first three steady and the last three steady as well, just kicked up a notch. I also looked like I peed my pants after this run from all of the sweat, so there was that! 

10 mile long run #1 of the weekend! Man this run felt awesome! I was just going and it felt really good the entire time. I love having those runs that just flow and my legs feel like I could go forever! I also met up with my mom on the trail a few times which was nice because I knew that every so often I would see a familiar face.

I was riding a high from this run the entire day!

Another 10 miles for long run #2 of the weekend! Unlike yesterday this run was a bit more of a struggle. It was super hot and humid, my lungs just weren't having it, my legs on the other hand kept saying, "LET'S GO! LET'S GO!" so there was a weird internal struggle going on. My pace slowed by about 20 seconds per mile from yesterday's run but overall I'm glad I got the run in and powered through, even when I wanted to stop and finish up the run on the treadmill!

SUMMARY:

This week was a test. 2 speed workouts and 2 long runs really took it out of me physically and mentally. I'm learning to listen to my body, feel the pace, feel the miles and not stop when I may want to give up and go home. It still seems surreal how close we are to race day, I'm really just keeping my eye on that belt buckle!

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