This is week #3 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!)
Monday: 7 Hill Repeats. I was off work for Labor Day, so I went to East Fork Park. The humidity was brutal, and this hill that I found near the headwaters seemed worse than the Gilbert Avenue hill I’m used to. However, the first 6 repeats the hill was only around three feet more elevation. However, for the 7th repeat I used a different hill that was moving closer to where I parked. It was about 3 times as tall, so I was entirely gassed by the end. I skipped form and mobility drills before my run, but started adding a third set of squats after my Monday and Wednesday runs. In terms of weather, it was hot and humid and everything that is wrong with September in Cincinnati.
Sunrise over the lake before running. 
This was the hill for the first 6 repeats. It was harder than it looks. 
This was the hill for the last repeat. It was probably a little too steep for what I was doing.
Tuesday: Fitness Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. I was back in the park for this one, which was largely cleaned up after the past weekend’s festivities. Did the form drills I skipped on Monday and ran across the Purple People Bridge and back across the suspension bridge. It was still humid, and so much… well… I think one of our local meteorologists hit the nail on the head with this one.
When the screen grab accurately captures my feelings about the heat and humidity. #WLWT pic.twitter.com/92NMBsLuk5
— Randi Rico WLWT (@RandiRicoWLWT) September 4, 2018
Wednesday: 30 minute tempo run. Again, it was as humid as a steamroom outside. I’m glad this was a 30 minute tempo run. It seemed like I was going slow (and my watch was constantly beeping at me, trying to keep me between a 7:41 and 7:59 pace. Somehow, my tempo pace was 7:58 by the end. Overall, 5.27 miles in 43:32 (8:16 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 2 mile recovery run. This week is supposed to be a 5k race, I’ll run a mock race. So today was supposed to be rest, but I felt like getting a run in and I want to get steps in for the stupid fitness tracker anyway. I kept it easy, 2 miles in 17:07 (8:31 min/mile pace).
Friday: 5k mock race. Since it was a mock race, I wanted as much path to myself and didn’t want any issues with parked cars across the sidewalk or anything, so I went to the Batavia Township Park. I jogged a little for a warm up and then stopped to ensure my watch was locked. Busted my ass for a 5k, and then ran a cool down after the watch beeped. Apparently, I did good. Unlike most runs, I did not track the warm-up and cool-down, so the 5k was in 22:58 (7:23 minutes per mile).
Saturday: Recovery run. Ran in the neighborhood, luckily between rainstorms. I heard a very heavy downpour at around 5:30 and thought ‘I’ll probably be running on the dreadmill, but not now’ and went back to sleep for another hour. Got up, looked out the window and saw that it wasn’t raining, so I went out for a quick easy run. 3.09 miles in 27:24 (8:52 min/mile pace).
Things to Hear and See
I finished Again to Carthage. The end was a little unexpected, but also heartwarming (particularly because of the connection (there’s many, but the last one is the best) with Once A Runner.
Fellow BibChat and Beer Guy Craig got 5th in the Adam’s County Half!
And that’s it because this post is late. Cheers!