Happy Easter, everyone! How was your weekend? Did anyone race?
Life Lately
We celebrated our first Easter as a married couple this year and kept it relaxed: Mass and a nice turkey dinner later that night (we’re not ham people. Turkey > ham).
This week began the beginning of the end of our time in Valparaiso, IN. Ryan received and accepted an offer for a small engineering company in Redmond, WA (Eastside of Seattle). We are SO excited for this move! It’s hard to leave the Midwest, since our families are here, but there’s not much left in Valpo for us and we have been wanting to move to the Pacific Northwest for some time now. No snow or awful winters + mountains + ocean + a huge running community + lots of career opportunities for both of us make Seattle a great area for us. It’s just so gorgeous out there, and as my mom pointed out (she used to live in Bellevue), every single weekend is going to feel like a vacation for us. Vancouver Island, Portland, Mount Rainer, Mount St. Helena, Mount Hood, the Olympic Peninsula, and so on are only a day’s drive for us. Plus St. Louis will be just a short plane ride away.
I’m especially glad I signed up for the Portland Marathon now—not only is it going to be an awesome race, but it won’t be a far trip!
We’re moving out there in mid-May, so the next few weeks are going to be busy with packing, finding movers, finding apartments, and seeing friends and family before we move.
Plus, lots of walks outside since spring seems to be here to stay!
St. Louis Go! Half Marathon Training Week 7
Taper time! I cut back my mileage this week to about 70% of my peak week mileage and also cut back on the intensity.
Monday: Mile repeats! 8 miles with 4 x 1 mile at 10K pace: 7:09, 7:08, 7:13, 7:13. I haven’t done these as much in this training cycle, so I was pleased with my paces. I will always have better times at my tempo workouts than my repeats. This workout was done in the wind, which did lead to me to slow down a bit for the last two repeats.
Tuesday: 5 miles easy, 8:52/mile average. Not the most pleasant run: 100% humidity, cold, and so foggy that visibility was at like a 1/4 of a mile.
Wednesday: 7 miles easy, 8:24/mile average. The was the tempo run that wasn’t. My legs just didn’t have it in them, and I didn’t want to burn myself out so close to the race. Since I wasn’t feeling awful, I just ran the miles easy instead of completely scraping the workout. Some simple strength training. 30 minutes of foam roller yoga in the afternoon helps stretch out my achy legs.
Thursday: 4 miles with 3 miles at goal pace (7:30/mile), 7:45/mile average overall. I ran on the treadmill (1% incline) because it was thunderstorming outside. I don’t mind running in the rain, but if there’s any lightening I head straight for the treadmill. Charlie was upset that we didn’t get our run in together.
Friday: Complete rest day.
Saturday: 8 miles easy on the treadmill, 0-4% incline, 8:29/mile average pace. My usual route was closed down for a race, so my lazy self chose to run inside and practice race day hills and hydration one last time rather than find a new route.
Sunday: More rest!
32 miles total for the week.
Goals for this Week
1. To taper well: keep easy paces on my runs, hydrate lots, and eat well.
2. To run a good race! I’ll post more about my goals for this race later in the week. Right now the weather keeps switching back and forth between chance of rain and no rain. Fingers crossed for no rain!
Questions of the Day:
Do you have any Easter traditions?
How were your workouts this week?
10 Responses
That’s so exciting that you have official plans to move now! Congrats to your husband on his new job! I have never been to the Pacific Northwest but I have heard it’s amazing there!
Thank you, Lisa! The more we confirm plans about the move, the more exciting it gets (as I’m sure you know with moving into a new house!). It really is beautiful out there!
Ooohh congrats to Ryan! Very exciting! Seatttle will be amazing!! Your half marathon is here! Yay! You are gonna do great! Glad training has prepared you well 🙂
Thank you, Tina! It is such a great opportunity for him and we are so excited! And thanks for the encouragement on the race! 🙂
So excited for you all with the move! It’ll be hectic, but you will certainly love it out there!
Thanks, Susie! Moving is soooo hectic and I kinda wish they had just some Harry Potter spell for getting everything out there no-fuss!
That sounds like an awesome move to me! Congrats to you! I’ve yet to get to Wash. state, but it’s high on my list. Big stuff for you!
Thanks, Amanda! I definitely recommend Washington for a visit, it’s so pretty and there’s so many places to go running!
So excited for you! Hopefully we’ll have a chance to meet sometime up on the West Coast 🙂 The proximity to the ocean and the mountains is really unparalleled. There’s nothing really to compare them to. I hope your move goes well!
Sounds like a great week of training and a relaxing Easter. Unfortunately, I was on flights back to Columbus yesterday for work today. Bah.
Also, thank you for tagging me in your Friday post! I plan to get that up tomorrow.
Thank you, Jess! Hopefully we can meet up – Redmond/Seattle is not that far from the Bay Area 🙂 I hope you continue to get settled in well, it sounds like you’re busy with having to travel back to Ohio.