Week 5 NWM - Reflecting

In my week 4 training recap, I expressed some nerves about getting through week 5's build week and just as I had imagined, it was challenging to get my runs in. First, my legs were fatigued and second, I was particularly uninspired during the work week. All said, I'm really proud to report that  I got through my longest long run this training period (12 miles) and was smart about my Thursday 3 miler, which I turned into a 1.5 walk as my legs were super sore. I added 1.5 miles to my Sunday run just to hit the 30 mpw goal.

In summary, week 5 shook out like this:

Mileage: 30 miles

Time: 4:42 mins

I should note that as I'm newbie runner, it's hard for me to differentiate between various levels of fatigue. Clearly, fatigue is too be expected but at what point should I swap out a run for a rest day or a walk? I pondered that very question this week and common sense dictated that if running felt uncomfortable, don't do it.

Below is a screen shot from DailyMile detailing my week's runs in backwards order from Sunday to the previous Monday.

Before writing this post, I also took a moment to look back on where things went so wrong for me last year when I started and didn't finish a training plan for the San Francisco Marathon 2011. It seems that I more or less completed 5 weeks of the training plan before two big work trips in Europe halted momentum and eventually, the execution of the entire training cycle itself.

Interestingly, it was during week 2 that I ran the US Half Marathon (completed with 10'33"/mile average pace), which in hindsight seems a bit much if I was serious about training for my first marathon. Since I was part of SFM's training program, I was also doing track workouts and group runs until it seems I got sick during week 3. Weeks 4 and 5 were strong weeks, with the latter including a 14 mile long run. Then work travel hit (the Netherlands and Toronto) until I posted a sad 'Reset' post that never even directly addressed the fact that I had completely stopped training.

Still, I learned a lot from my whole running experience in 2011 - namely, that it's not a good idea for me to stop running :)

Before I sign off, below are a few photo highlights from last week (really, just Saturday and Sunday. I haven't been taking a lot of pictures as of late!):

Enjoying sunny weather on Saturday after my long run. We chatted on a local park bench over taro bubble tea :)

Anna sleeping in on Sunday morning while I catch up with my brother over the phone.

With Rebecca at her baby shower.

Anna makes a bib and a onesie that said "Superman" on it :)