Last week was a really great week in terms of training. Thanks to lower temperatures and less humidity, I felt fantastic and nailed almost every run. I witnessed so many amazing sunrises. I ended up with almost 37 miles for the week. I normally don’t pay much attention to my weekly mileage, but 37 miles is a lot for me. And strangely enough, I feel great! It was overall just a wonderful week.
Tuesday — 5.3 miles
I had the best track workout last week. The. Best. I ran at my alma mater and it brought back such awesome (and not so awesome?) memories. I was the only one there. It was quiet and peaceful. The football benches were in the way in the first two lanes but I made it work. Goal was 3x1200m and I nailed every single split. It was a great start to the day.
Wednesday — 5.5 miles
Wednesday’s run was tough. I ran on the treadmill for the first time since last winter and I felt like it was just mind games for the entire run. First I felt like I was going too fast. Then I thought if I went faster I would peter out and not be able to finish my run. Then I felt I was going to slow. This discombobulated thinking went on for the duration of my run. Goal was steady state for 6 miles. I ended up doing a progression run for 5.5 miles. What’re you gonna do, right?
Thursday — 7.75 miles
Goal for Thursday was to run an 8-mile easy paced run. I ran an easy paced run, but I started worrying I was running out of time, so I cut my route just a touch short. Missing a quarter mile here and there won’t make or break a training cycle. I was satisfied with this run. I felt great and got almost 8 miles in before 8 am.
Friday — 3 miles
On Friday I met up with Julie! I hadn’t seen her in a month!! We were both exhausted and only ended up breaking 3 miles, but it was all good. We both had a long week and we were just happy to be able to get a run in together again!
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| This is the reward for running at, quite literally, the crack of dawn. |
Saturday — 12.03 miles
Saturday was awesome. I met up with Sara who I haven’t seen since 4th of JULY! She was just coming off a pretty impressive half marathon PR the weekend before, yet she still somehow agreed to run 12 miles with me. I was ever so grateful for the company.
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| I was trying to sneak up on Sara but this happened instead. =D |
We had a really nice run together. The weather was pretty steamy, however, which made for some less-than-ideal conditions. At the beginning of the run there was literally zero — and I mean zero — airflow. It was like running in a sauna and it wasn’t even that hot out. But the air just hung in space and made it hard to breathe.
We saw some wildlife — loons, squished frogs — ya know, the usual… We had some great catch-up time and conspired about how we are going to unwittingly take over the world and practiced our acceptance speeches.
“Who? Me?! Nooooo. I’m so honored!”
We ran a familiar out-and-back that we ran a couple times during marathon training. This time there was no snow and no ice. Just lush greenery, birds singing, and a beautiful sunrise. Topped with a quick water refill at Big Boy and a delectable breakfast at Yours Truly, this was an amazing run.
Sunday — 3.37 miles
On Sunday I met up with my 5K training group. These girls. I tell ya… We started off running for 90 seconds and now here we are running for almost 40 minutes! I gave them a surprise workout on Sunday. No walk breaks, long miles, and lots of hills. And they rocked it like it was no big thang. Amazing. #proudmama
This week I’ll be doing more half marathon pace work. I’m hoping I can rock it like I did last week. I’ll definitely need to work on getting more sleep because I do feel very fatigued. I blame that mostly on the fact that I went out and stayed up late on Saturday night after my long run in the morning. Haven’t quite recovered yet. I’ve got some track work, tempo running, and a marathon relay race on Saturday which should be fun. Busy week ahead!
I know there are lots of people winding down their marathon training cycles for the upcoming Chicago Marathon, MCM, NYC Marathon and lots of halves! How are you feeling? Give me one thing you’re certain you’ve nailed and one thing you want to improve upon!
xo
Join me as I link up with My No-Guilt Life, Run The Great Wide Somewhere, and MCM Mama Runs for Tuesdays on the Run!
