the 8 weeks to tinkerbell recap.

what a crazy week! it went from race week to my the final days of my awful class to the christmas season now in full swing. also with the end of one race we enter into the 3rd and final part of my nutty idea to do 3 races in 15 weeks! we are now in the official countdown to the inaugural tinkerbell all womens half marathon in disneyland on january 29th. i am sooo super excited and cant wait to have a girls weekend with my mom! if you havent heard all the details check them out.

sunday~vegas rock and roll half marthon!
13.1 miles =2:00:38 minutes/9:12 min/miles

this is the day i spent the last 8 weeks training for and looks like my experiment worked:) all the mornings and evenings i spent training and logging miles really worked. i originally didnt go into this race with a goal, i figured if i made it across the finish line it would be a miracle. as the day got closer and closer though i realized i could actually get a pr out of this one. then i came up with my dream goal of sub-2hrs. in the end though there were just too many uncontrolables in making that one happen. i decided i kinda dig the night race and the carbo-loading for 3 days before. i told ya this was an experiment;) if you havent read all about it, here you are! 

monday~rest.
rest.

i gladly took the day off and spent it sleeping in and celebrating my dads birthday! i did a little christmas shopping and got to indulge a bit:) my first stop before shopping was to starbucks. i hadnt had any fun coffee since the day after long beach and it was long overdue. it was also my first red christmas cup and peppermint mocha of the season! jessica had been waiting as well since she had originally planned on being here for the race so she had her for first one of the season the same day. it was super cute!

from phoenix, az :)

to las vegas, nv. sharing the christmas spirit!

tuesday~rest.
rest.

it was time to head back to work, you know since i had been there since thursday, haha. i woke up with a real bad stomach ache and couldnt figure out what that meant. i had heard a lot of people had been getting sick from the race and was really hoping i wasnt one of them. i also had a sore throat and a cough that wasnt bad, but i didnt feel good either. i went to work and decided if i couldnt hang all day i would use some sick time. after i got there though we had lunch delivered and i ate like i hadnt in a few days! i realized i just hadnt refueled enough from the night race.

wednesday~3 miles.
rest.

i had already planned to let my body decide if i was going to hit the pavement and it definitely told me no. with the refueling issue and the fact that i was still sore made the decision easy. i slept in one more day before heading into the office.

thursday~body pump.
4.22 miles = 41:16 minutes/9:46 min/miles

since i didnt run the day before i made sure to do it thursday instead of body pump. it was a very cold morning but my legs felt good after the 3 days of rest. i kept the pace easy and just wanted to feel good at the end. i was surprised my body kept it under 10 minute miles all on its own. i felt good the rest of the day as well, very accomplished. plus the extra calorie burn made dinner a bit easier;)

i have been waiting sooo long for this!
and it was definitely worth the wait.

friday~4 miles.
rest.

i decided to run saturday morning instead of back to back days and glad i did. sometimes you just have to listen to your body in order to do the right thing. 

saturday~rest.
5.2 miles = 48:28 minutes/9:19 min/miles.

work at 9am meant an early alarm to get in my planned miles. i think this morning was even colder than thursday morning! wished i could have met my runner group since they were on my side of town, but you cant always have everything you want. i had a busy day ahead and was really glad i was able to get up and get them in. i felt good and my pace seemed to come easily. plus my peppermint mocha afterward warmed me up right away!

i went to a family friends 3 year-old bowling birthday,
bonus of not being in training for a week!!

totals for the week = 22.52 miles + 0 days of cross-training.

this was a good week and i definitely am now in the christmas spirit! i did some more shopping today and started the present wrapping:) this week also got me very excited about tinkerbell. if i could do that well, physically and time-wise, i know i can make it through the happiest place on earth! i also know that this new pr, that by the way is now 2:00:38 hehe, is safely intact for awhile. that race is going to all about girly-girl fun!

46 days till the tinkerbell 1/2 marathon!!!