Las Vegas HALF Marathon RUNdown Week 8: 9/3-9/9

61 days out from my goal half marathon! I always feel like after 90 days out, time goes by so quickly. Does anyone else ever feel this way? I’m also not some crazy countdown person, I have the countdown app as the watch face for my Garmin ; ) Last week of training was crazy with just getting back into the groove of things after a long weekend and trying to prep for the Run Rabbit Run pacing that I’ll do on Friday night!! I’m hitting all of my splits and had a great workout on Tuesday, so mentally - I’m feeling great and working towards keeping those positive mantras going when things get tough.

Monday, 9/3: Labor Day! 5 miles easy on the trails by the lake @ 10:34 811’ up. I waited until the heat of the afternoon to get this run in and definitely slowed down quiet a bit - feeling sluggish. Also stopped to say “hi!” to my new deer friend. Did 30 minutes of strength training before the run.

Tuesday, 9/4: 7 miles ( 1mile warm-up; 5 x 1 mile @ Half Marathon Goal Pace 2min recovery between sets; 1 mile cool down)/ yoga after work

Wednesday, 9/5: 5 miles easy at 9:41 310’ up/ 20 minutes of swimming (18 laps ~0.5 mile)/ Jumpboard Pilates at lunch

Thursday, 9/6: REST DAY. Was feeling really tired after my crazy intense pilates class the day before and felt OK with not running today.

Friday, 9/7: 5 miles easy with 4 x60 sec strides (90 sec recovery between sets). 5.6 miles total. Splits: 6:55 (not sure on this one- I sometimes forget how to use my Garmin)/ 6:45/ 6:59/ 6:40. 537’ UP / Pilates class at lunch. I ran up Spring Creek for my easy paces and did the strides also on the trail with the 1st & 3rd sets uphill and 2nd & 4th sets on the downhill.

Saturday, 9/8: 6 miles easy @ 9:51 587’ up. Nice and easy miles around our ‘hood

Sunday, 9/9: 12 trail miles easy @ 12:25 1, 739’ up. I originally planned to do these miles on Emerald Mountain, but there was HUGE Mtn Bike race going on there, so I adjusted my plans and went up Spring Creek instead. I will also be doing my pacing on this trail as well and have never gone all the way up so I was excited to venture into new territory! It was HARD and it was into the high 80s throughout my run (I did it mid-afternoon), so I stopped at the creek crossings on the way down to splash some water on my face and legs which was super nice. I’m happy that my pacing duties are overnight because the heat definitely takes more energy out of you!

Total Mileage: 40.6 miles (same as last week!)

Total Elevation: 3, 864’ up

Trail running- yay or nay?

What’s your ideal running temperature? —> I think mine would be upper 40s/ low 50s!

Mile repeats —> yay or nay? They feel hard when they’re faster than race pace to me, but easier when done at race pace.