Halfway There!

I'm officially halfway through my half marathon training plan!  Kind of crazy!  I've gotta say, I'm absolutely in love with it.  This training cycle, I decided to try the heart rate training plan from Another Mother Runner.  To say that it's changed my life might be a little dramatic, but it certainly feels that way sometimes!  The idea behind heart rate training, is that you need to keep your heart rate under a certain number so that you're using only your aerobic system rather than your anaerobic.  Most people refer to this as "base building", and that's what the first 6 weeks really were...just training up your aerobic system so you can start gaining speed later in the program.  Which meant many long, slow miles.  Turns out, I kind of love those!  When started week 1 I couldn't go more than about 60-90 seconds without my heart rate getting to high, forcing me to slow down to a walk.  By week 6, I was running 60 minuets no problem.  Now at week 10, I'm running 110 minutes nonstop, and I've taken 4 min/mile off my pace from week 1.  I still have plenty of room for improvement, and I look forward to seeing where it goes in the next 10 weeks!  Some of the best improvements though have been ones I hadn't expected:

-I'm able to run without walking (a new thing for me!)
- I'm consistently running 5-6 days per week
- I LOVE running ❤️
- I no longer dread running, in fact I run for cross training (and sometimes on my extra rest day) because running is all I want to do!
- I've learned to run in a fasted state and no longer rely on gels and caffeine to get me through my runs
- I no longer use headphones when running outdoors. It's amazing!
- My clothes are fitting loosely, and people are asking if I've lost weight. (A nice side effect!)
- I'm not dead after my long runs, I still have plenty of energy left to get me through the rest of my day!

Previous training cycles were exhausting for me.  I'd end up missing at least one run a week because I was just too tired.  I know now that it's because I was running too fast each run, never letting my body build up a good base.  On my long run days, I'd be dead, pretty much useless the rest of the day!  It's totally different now.  Yesterday, I went on my 110 min long run, came home and cleaned to house, played chauffeur a couple of times, made a bunch of food, and had a small party at my house.  I ended up not getting to bed until midnight, and while I was a bit tired by the end of the day, I was also amazed that I was able to do all of that!  Because I started this training with such a poor aerobic base, I know it'll take some time to get where I want to be, but for now I'm absolutely loving it and I'm excited to see what the future holds!