March Training Update: Pittsburgh Half Marathon #GameOnPGH

It’s been a hot minute since I shared a training update! I’m now 5 weeks out from race day and I’m feeling pretty good. If you’d asked me last week how I was feeling, I would have had a much different answer after travel and visitors the past several weeks.

Let’s rewind:

I opted to not stress about hitting all my training runs during my travels; the time I get to spend with friends and family is so short that I was not about to divert attention from the moment at hand.

In Vegas, we walked MILES every day which = long hours on my feet which is better than long hours sitting all day. In Oregon, Lucas and I went trail running twice, 4 miles each. We also walked (or skied) more than 10,000 steps every single day we were there which is more than I typically walk in a work-from-home day.

Trail Running Bend, Oregon // lynnepetre.com

But did I long run during these trips? Nope. I brought my gear and told myself, ‘if it worked out do a long run before everyone woke up, it’s on.‘ I didn’t make it a priority and thus, no long run happened. And I don’t regret this choice one bit.

It did mean that I *needed* to get out and run 8 miles this past weekend. I’d planned to do it on Sunday afternoon after my dad and his wife left and I spent much of Sunday morning dreading it. We’d eaten super greasy and incredibly delicious pizza on Saturday night and a heavy hotel-restaurant breakfast Sunday morning – not ideal pre-long run fuel. I almost tried to negotiate with myself – just run Monday morning before you start working! – but instead, texted my friend, Raela, with my planned route and we made a plan to meet.

I haven’t been running with the run club as I’d hoped to do but have been lucky enough to talk Raela into running some of my long run miles with me recently. She’s usually game for 3-4 miles so I’ll plan my route to pick her up for the middle or last miles of my run. Breaking up the solo miles is such a boost!

For this week’s long run, I ran a 3 mile loop, picked up Raela to run the same 3 mile loop and then ran the final 2 miles myself. And it felt good!

8 Mile Long Run // lynnepetre.com

(Obviously, this is not training exactly as I will race but, again, I’m less concerned with doing things exactly by the books this time around. I’d rather break up my run and spend 30 minutes catching up with my friend.)

I finished these miles and still felt like I had gas in the tank; I’d started out pretty conservatively, afraid I’d crash partway through the run, so this run really boosted my confidence.

I’m looking forward to my 9 miles this weekend – I’m spending this week eating better, hitting my training runs, doing yoga and drinking lots of water (and no beer) so I’m expecting (hoping) this weekend will feel even better than last week.

One thought on “March Training Update: Pittsburgh Half Marathon #GameOnPGH

  1. You know I’m always game to join you for your long runs! If you ever need another buddy to help you out let me know 🙂 Good luck with 9 this weekend! Looks like the weather should be PERFECT so enjoy it.

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