Three weeks to go until race day. I ran 11 fairly blissful miles today. Outside temp dropped about 30 degrees overnight - so this morning was almost *cold*. Started out with shorts, tank, and wind breaker and it was wonderful. Ran 10 miles, picked up doughnuts at the neighborhood bakery, ran home and ate them still feeling virtuous.
I have a sprint triathlon next week and will somehow fit my "long run" in. I think the taper starts soon.
Trying to figure out my "off season" running plan.
Good luck! i'm still trying to figure out my off season running plan too. My race was a month ago, and I decided that I wanted to cut back from 3x to 2x a week:
Weds: 3 miles
Saturday: 6-8 miles
Yeah, that didn't happen. In the first 4 weeks, I ran exactly 4 times. All on the weekend: a 10k race (disappointing finish), 2.6 mile run to the farmer's market, 4.6 mile run to cheer on friends running a 5k, and 3.2 mile run with a group.
I realized that after such a long hard bout of training, I got burned out. So the only way I'll keep momentum is to pay for it (I have a hard time with that). I joined a paid road/ trail running group on Sundays, that will be around 3-5 miles. (Generally plans for 4 miles or 40 minutes. But I don't do 4 miles in 40 minutes. Plus my best buddy joined the group and she's just getting into running. This group is going to be for fun.)
Then, the coach for the uphill half decided to have a regular "maintenance" track group until her next big training group. Since my Weds morning runs have not happened once, I signed up for that.
So, new plan:
Tues 6 am paid track workout. Today was ~2.75 miles (100 repeats)
Saturday "long" (free) run. I may join a free group for this. I'm going to cut myself some slack and not try for 8 miles. I think 5 miles is fine, and I might throw in an occasional 10k race.
Sunday "fun mom's group" paid run. 3-5 miles, depends on if my friend is there and the terrain. I'll be going at her pace if she's there and my own if she's not. There are plenty of people about our pace (11:00 to 15:00 run or run/walk combo).
We'll see about next year. I may just do the same half marathons next year that I did this year. Remember I hate half marathons? But if I want to do the all uphill one in September (to get a better time, assuming it's not 95F again), then I might as well do the one in May as a warmup.
One of the women in my first "mom's running" group this weekend made a good comment. I've been trying to challenge myself. What she said was "my strengths are short and fast. I've decided to play to my strengths and enjoy it." So, yeah.