You know one thing I love about my running right now? On most mornings I am done with my exercise for the day, before most people are out of bed.

This morning’s long run concluded week 2 of my half marathon training. Compared to last week, my legs felt less tired, I felt like I had more energy, I hung in there on my speed day, and I kicked some ass on on my long run! All in all, it feels like my body is adapting nicely to the increased workload. There were two notable differences this week, versus last week: I didn’t do any additional lower body strength training, and I took a complete day of rest yesterday. Last week I had two lower body strength training sessions, and on my Saturday Rest/XT day, I did a pretty intense yoga class.

All of that said, here’s my rundown from week 2:

• Day 1
  • Upper body strength training at the gym.
  • 30 minutes of easy spinning on the stationary bike – 9.66 miles.
  • Week 5, Day 1 of the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge
• Day 2
  • 5 mile easy @ 10:12 – was supposed to be 10:14/mile
• Day 3
  • 4 miles easy @ 10:12 – again, this was supposed to be 10:14/mile. HR averaged 151—10 bpm lower than the average from the day before.
  • Week 5, Day 2 of the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge.
• Day 4
  • Speedwork – 5 miles total, w/warmup, 2 x 1 mile @ 8:11/mile, .5 mile jog, cool down. Good, but hard. First interval was comfortably hard, 2nd interval just felt hard, though at the same time, it felt like I was running an easier pace. Actual times for intervals: 1-8:11, 2-8:03.
  • Upper body strength training.
• Day 5
  • 4 miles easy @ 10:14 – legs were tired after the previous day’s speedwork.
  • Week 5, Day 3 of the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge.
• Day 6
  • Complete Rest – not sure the last time this happened.
• Day 7
  • 9 Mile Long Run – I did the first 6 miles at 10:14/mile, and then ran the final 3 miles at what I hope is my half marathon race pace or faster: mile 7- 9:21, mile 8- 9:05, mile 9- 8:37. Whew!
  • One Hundred Push Up Challenge – post week 5 test to exhaustion. Did this right before heading out on my long run: 67 push ups.

So that’s it. Another week is in the books. Week 3 will be challenging, primarily because we’re heading to Colorado at the end of the week. I should be able to get in my first 4 runs no problem, but my long run, which is supposed to be 10 miles, will come sometime within 24 hours of having spent a long time in the car, and of course it will be run at altitude. Fortunately, week 4 is a scale back week.

One last note: I’ve run each and every run of my half marathon training in the morning—starting most of them before 6 AM. I am very happy with how easy it’s become to get up and run.