Last week was fantastic in terms of training. I didn’t run inside ONCE! It was glorious. And I had running buddies for every run. It was really fun. PLUS, I got to run with my gal pal, Eugenia, who I haven’t run with in forever. I’m spoiling all the fun. Here’s how last week went:
Tuesday — 5 Miles
I’m finally getting Julie up early to run. It’s fun having my running buddy back! It’s not pitch black outside anymore (holla!) and it’s no longer bitter cold. We headed out at 6:30 or so for an easy 5 miler. It’s amazing how much faster I run outside than on the treadmill. Plus, sunrise. Yesssssssss.
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| Selfie. Because why not. |
Wednesday — 8 Miles
On Wednesday, Julie and I ran 8 miles together. This time I went to her house for an even earlier start than Tuesday. Poor girl. I keep making her wake up early. The change of scenery was helpful but 8 miles was oddly tough. I feel like maybe it’s just the 8-mile distance that’s my nemesis. It’s kinda like a 10K. It’s not speedy like a 5K but it’s not as long as a half marathon. So how fast does one go? No one really knows. This is why I don’t run 10Ks. It’s confusing.
We saw Cleveland’s version of cherry blossoms, so that was cool. Such a contrast from the beautiful blooms all over DC. What can I say — it’s freezing in the CLE.
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| Another beautiful sunrise. |
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| Cherry blossoms |
We started off pretty strong, but definitely ended with positive splits. Gah, these positive splits are killing me! But in our my defense, we were going downhill the first half and uphill the second.
Thursday — 5 Miles + Strength Training
On Thursday, Noemi joined Julie and me for a nice 5 miler. We were running pretty fast but it felt great, particularly coming off the shoddy 8 the day before. It was a fun, fiery run.
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| Noemi and me 🙂 |
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| Let’s do this. |
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| Yay 5 miles! |
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| I work out. |
Friday — 10 Miles
So technically I was supposed to run 12 miles on Saturday and Friday was a rest day. But since I was traveling super early on Saturday morning, I was considering pushing my 12-miler to Sunday in AZ. I planned on meeting up with some AZ bloggers but I knew they were only planning to run about 6 miles, so I figured I would try to get in as many miles as I could before my trip and just run 6 with them on Sunday. I decided I would run my 12 on Friday. Unfortunately I was so tired from the previous 18 miles that I didn’t know if I could do it. I ended up planning to run with my friend, Eugenia, who hadn’t run in a while. She said she would run part of it with me so I thought, “sweet, running buddy!”
I ran almost 2 miles to where Eugenia parked her car, and then we ran through a local park. It was chilly but humid and foggy, which made for some interesting conditions. Fortunately since I was quasi planning for 12, I had my hydration belt with me. I’m happy I brought it because both Eugenia and I were really thirsty.
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| It’s humid, cool, and foggy. Love it! |
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| Together again at last! |
At the place where we were supposed to split up, I opted to keep running with her and make up miles at the end of my run. We ended up running just over 5 miles together. After I ran her back to her car, I continued on and backtracked a bit to add more mileage. I ended up running 10 total, and although I definitely could have run the full 12, I just didn’t have the motivation to keep going. I was tired, I was out of water, and I knew I had a long day of cleaning the house top to bottom in case of showings while we were gone, plus last minute packing. I called it a day at 10 miles and I didn’t feel bad about it one bit.
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| 10 miles in the bag. |
I got home, I ate. I cleaned all day. I packed. I foam rolled.
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| Breakfast of champions. |
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| Delicious eggs from Noemi’s chickens! |
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| Aaaaaaand… Foam roll. |
Sunday — 0 Miles
Remember how I said I was supposed to run with the AZ bloggers? Well, going into this week, I hope that I still get the opportunity, but Sunday was just not gonna happen. We woke up at 4:00 am EST on Saturday to catch our early morning flight. And then we were up until whatever time it was Pacific time, which ended up equating to about 19 hours total. It’s one thing to be up for 19 hours. It’s another thing to be up for 19 hours coming off a 28-mile week, very little sleep before a 4 hour plane ride, a 3-hour time change, plus two crazy and crabby children. Additionally, no one slept on Saturday night, as expected. I’m glad I got my long run in on Friday because I was zonked on Sunday morning.
Overall, week 14 was fabulous. I ran outside for every run, I ran with friends for almost all my miles, and I picked up the pace quite a bit for all of them. Sidenote: I run insanely faster by myself than when I’m with friends. Even running with Julie was slower than when I was alone. I tried to slow myself down because I knew I was running too fast, but I never felt bad or out of breath so I just let my body guide me and tell me when to speed up or slow down.
This week is week 15! AHHHHH!!!! I have three 5 milers, and 20 on Saturday. I believe it will just be Julie and me, so we’re thinking outside the box and taking ourselves on a running tour of the east side of Cleveland. Should be fun. And also painful. But hopefully mostly fun. I plan on bringing music just in case I need a little kick in the rear. Fingers crossed all goes well and we don’t end up calling for a ride early! I’ll get in a few runs in hot and sunny AZ, which will be nice I’m sure. Looking forward to it. And hopefully I’ll get to meet those AZ bloggers. 🙂
xo
Tell me… did you watch the Boston Marathon? It’s amazing how fast the elites are — just amazing. Favorite vacation spot?
