These past two weeks have been pretty crazy with holiday prep, Christmas, and traveling. I didn't get in near as many core/strength workouts, especially the week of Christmas when I did exactly zero. And long runs didn't happen, either. I'm doing my long run for the week of 12/2-12/28 today, so really I'm only missing it by a day.

This is pretty typical of what happens during training for the Charleston Half for me - for the past two years, my mileage has dipped during these two weeks and I still managed to finish the race just fine. Two years ago, I PR'd, and last year I ran it pregnant and came in significantly faster than I thought I would.

I tend to have lower mileage in general during the months of November and December (although, this year, I've hit a mileage high for December), so I'm not too terribly concerned based on my overall fitness. I just know for the next few weeks, I need to stay on track. The date of the race just falls at an awkward time for training, so I do what I can, when I can, which is one of the reasons I doubt I'll ever do the full marathon. I don't want to be worrying about a 20 mile run the week of Christmas, especially if we travel up North. I usually run on a treadmill when we're there since the hotel we stay at has a nice gym (that picture up there is the view of downtown Lancaster we had from our room), and who wants to run 20 miles on a treadmill? Not this runner. I can barely muster five.

This round of training has definitely been about easing back into higher mileage and harder workouts. I'm planning to do another half in the spring and I'm hoping to really ramp up my miles at that point and add a cross-training day of cycling or the elliptical. But for now, I'm really happy with my progress over the past few months and I'm excited to see what the next few months bring.

12/15-12/21 workouts

Monday: OFF

Tuesday

• AM workout: 40 minutes core/strength 
• PM: Run - 5.02 miles (9:20 pace)

Wednesday: OFF

Thursday: 

• AM workout: OFF 
• PM: Run - 3.07 miles (9:07 pace)

Friday: OFF

Saturday: Cocoa Cup 5K (recap on the way)

Sunday: OFF (long travel day to PA)

Total miles: 11.19

Total runs: 3

Total core/strength workouts: 2

12/22-12/28 workouts

• Monday: Treadmill run: 5 miles (9:09 pace, 2% incline)
• Tuesday: OFF
• Wednesday: Treadmill run: 3 miles (8:46 pace, 2% incline)
• Thursday: OFF
• Friday: Treadmill run: 3.29 miles (9:07 pace, 2% incline)
• Saturday: OFF (Looooong travel day back to SC)
• Sunday: Neighborhood run: 3.25 miles (9:00 pace)

Total miles: 14.54

Total runs: 4

Total core/strength workouts: 0