It’s getting closer! Now only three full weeks away is my next half marathon – really hard to believe that it’s almost here.

My daughters are both running the 2k the day before my race, so it’s going to be a fun weekend of running! Sadly, my husband works that whole weekend – bummahhh!! Anyway, training last week was better then week #8 so I’m heading in the right direction. Or at least I think I am!

What was Planned vs What Really Happened

Monday: 60 minutes cross training | Rest Day. My body was in need of a rest day after my 15k long run on Sunday so I took it.

Tuesday: 8 k | Yoga Flow. I went to yoga at lunch and it was just what my body needed. A good stretch and a little challenge here and there. I was thinking about running that evening but decided to take it easy.

Wednesday: 45 min tempo run | 5 k trail run (35 minutes) with  Carmacks. It was the first run that I’ve fallen while running with him attached to me. Thankfully, nothing was broken and I only had a few good bruises and 1 large splinter to dig out of my hand.

Thursday: 5 k | 20.40 km Cycling. I didn’t really want to run on my treadmill (only option for the day) so I jumped on my bike around 8 pm once my girls were asleep (husband was working).  It wasn’t the best ride but I got it done. I’m way off my monthly cycling mileage for the month but I’m okay with where I’m at. There is a possibility I can get in a ride Monday night so we’ll see!

Friday: Rest Day | Soccer Game. Friday’s are usually my standard rest day but I had a soccer game. One that I was really nervous for since I haven’t played much this winter due to injury. We had no subs which meant I played the whole game. So much sprinting, tracking, running, jockying and moving around the field. This was my speed work for the week for sure! My abs hurt for a few days after along with the muscles in my feet and shins! Oh, and we won!

Saturday: Rest | Rest Day. I took the day off from any activity. My girls has swimming lessons and then went to our neighbours for a sleep over. Since they were gone, my husband and I went out to dinner and came home to watch “Downsizing”. Meh, it was okay but I don’t think I’d recommend it. at 9:30 we got the call to come get the girls as they couldn’t fall asleep. We both anticipated this so it wasn’t a big surprise.

Sunday: 15 k Race | 17 k Long Run. Our girls planned to go back over to our neighbour’s house to have breakfast and my husband and I planned to go for a long run together. However, our neighbour wasn’t feeling 100% so we brought them home for breakfast. I went for my long run and my husband ran when I got back.

So my long run. We’ll it was just plain shitty. I ran 3 k with Carmacks and came home to meet my husband for our run but that fell through so I went off to run another 14 k by myself. I chose a hill route as my husband and I enjoy running that and I figured I’d just stay with the plan.

It sucked. I hated it. I enjoyed only 1 km of that run as I was flying down a long hill but pretty much everything else about that run sucked. Running is hard for me right now, really hard. And, that’s okay…not every run can be easy or good or enjoyable! In the end I was happy to have accomplished the distance but hope I can get back to really loving running again.

This could have been the week that I just pushed myself to do a few workouts rather then enjoy them. However, I think coming off the flu has taken me a little while to really get to 100% feeling great. I’m hoping that this week is better. Better sleep and recovery, better running, better workouts.

Total km of running this week: 22km, 20km cycling, 1 soccer game.

Total km this training cycle: 137 km

How was your weekend?

What do you do when running is just hard?

Do you substitute other sports for speed work?

I’m linking up with Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap today.