I dreamt about racing last night.  It wasn’t the Berlin Half in particular, but more like an obstacle course involving a water slide.  If only!  In any case, in my dream I was feeling confident about my preparations, so I hope that’s a good sign that I’m ready for this race.  Here is what my last full week of training looked like:

• Monday: Rest.
• Tuesday: Speed intervals of 10 x 450 meters at 9:00 pace + core workout.  Although I really enjoyed how beautiful it is along the Weser in Bremen in the early morning hours, I was dragging during this workout.  I also measured out the 400 meters incorrectly, and figured out only after the workout that my sprints were more like 450 meters each.  Not a bad thing, but does explain why I was taking so much longer to run them!  It threw off my pacing, and my decision making in terms of how much effort I should be putting in.  Anyway, I ran as hard as I could.
• Wednesday: 5-mile run.  This run was also along the Weser river, which is a path I really enjoy running.  Being on the water within 5 minutes of starting my run is such a pleasant change from running through traffic and a gritty neighborhood for 15 minutes before reaching a park in Berlin.  Plus a friend I haven’t seen for awhile joined me, which made the run more fun and the time pass quickly!  I started off way too fast in the first two miles — somewhere around a 9:00 pace.  I need to be better about controlling my pace at the beginning.
• Thursday: 4-mile run.  I can tell my body needs more rest these days than normally because I really had to pull myself through this run.  I kept the pace nice and easy, but I still felt like I was running through mud.  But at least I got to enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of the sun coming up over the Weser on a foggy morning.  So gorgeous and I had it all to myself too!
• Friday: Rest
• Saturday: Leg and upper body strengthening.  Probably not the most brilliant thing to do squats the day before a long run, but so be it.
• Sunday: 12-mile run.  I ran this less according to my watch and more according to effort, and still ended up a few seconds faster per mile than last week. My goal was to run strong and feel good, without tearing up my legs so close to the race. And all went according to plan. The weather was perfect, sunny but cool.  I had enough energy left at the end that I know in the race I can definitely push it harder.

I’m ready for a mini-taper before the race.  Let’s hope my legs react well to taking it a bit easier and that they’ll be nice and fresh next Sunday!

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