TBD Training - Week 7 of ?

Week Beginning Thoughts:
Some personal stress is threatening to derail my plan focus, but so far I'm clinging to it to keep me sane. Positive thoughts are welcome.

Just keep swimming.

Monday
Planned: strength
Did: strength
Good session today. A little distracted and Pandora was not giving me awesome motivation, but still got a full hour of work done in the gym. Went up in weight and/or reps on a couple of lifts, so still making positive progress.

Tuesday
Planned: #10kTuesday
Did: 6.24 mi @ 9:07/mi moving avg.
Just a regular ol' 10k today. It wasn't too yucky outside, actually quite pleasant compared to what I'd expect this time of year. Ran a loop through the USC Upstate campus which was a nice change of scenery, albeit a hillier course than I usually opt for on #10kTuesday. Pace was moderate but pretty consistent. The fields at the front of campus were nice and foggy.

Weird grin. Nice fog.

I ran into a spiderweb near the beginning of the run, which was a little startling. I caught the little bugger swinging on a web hanging off my ponytail before he was able to climb up onto me. I shook him loose and he ran off into the grass.

Pace graph with a few interruptions. 

Little heartrate spike during the spider incident. 

Wednesday
Planned: XT + 2
Did: 14.4 mi bike + 0.74 mi run
Rode with Scott at lunch today which meant we did a speedy ride! Averaged just shy of 16 mph for the ride. I was right on pace with him for the first ~2/3 of the ride, but I started to poop out at the end. I got hungry.
I started out to do my 2 mile post-ride run, but I pooped out on that one too, plus also ran out of time and really needed to get back to work. Oh well. I probably should have just bagged it altogether given how tired/ hungry I was at the end of the ride.

Thursday
Planned: 6 mi intervals #speedworkThursday
Did: ladder workout, 6.0 mi treadmill @ 8:09/mi avg + Short Track mountain bike race
It felt so nice outside this morning that I almost tried to do this workout outdoors, but I really struggle with speedwork on an unmeasured course. Oh how I wish I had convenient access to a track! The treadmill was fine though, and I got a great ladder workout in this morning.
Ladder (down and up) workout, approximate paces for each speed section:
1WU (9:30)
1200/400 (7:00)
800/400 (6:45)
400/400 (6:30)
400/400 (6:30)
800/400 (6:45)
1200/400 (sub-7:00, varied)
1200 CD (9:00)

I had the "oh no, too fast" thought as I started the first 1200, but by the time it was over, I was loving the speed. Thinking I need to push even more on these if I really want to get faster. The final 1200 was tough but I was able to push through it with the help of my current favorite pump-me-up song, 'Despacito'. 😁 🎶

Bonus: Short Track Race
The final short track race of the season was tonight, and it was the biggest turnout yet! There were probably 30+ racers in the Beginner/Sport category, though only 4 or 5 females. Definite advantage to being a minority in the sport. :) It was a tough race and I didn't get passed by/pass any of the other ladies in the race, so we each held our spots pretty solidly through the entire 30 minutes. I got in 6 laps of ~.8 miles each, averaged 9.8 mph, which was good enough for 3rd place on the podium!


Friday
Planned: yoga
Did: yoga
Ahhh, stretchy stretchy Friday yoga class.

Saturday
Planned: 14 mi
Did: 34.5 mi bike ride 
So last night, we're at dinner and Scott says "oh hey, the TR Cycling Group is doing a 35-mile ride tomorrow, you should join them. It says average speed 13-14mph." I thought about it and said, sure, why not! We met at the pool at 7:30 a.m. to roll out from the neighborhood, there were 8 of us. I'd never ridden with any of this group before, but figured I could probably keep up with a 13-14 mph average. As we rode, it became evident that that was an underestimation of the pace and we ended up doing a little over 15 mph average moving speed, but I kept up! There were some rolling climbs throughout, nice descents, and mostly beautiful country 2-lane roads. I'm usually such a solitary runner & rider that it surprised me how much I enjoyed it. I stayed in the back of the group most of the ride, but I pushed past the group a few times on some climbs which made me feel pretty good. Really happy I decided to ride this! We'll see how well the legs work tomorrow for a run...

Sunday
Planned: 8 mi
Did: 9.64 mi @ 9:43/mi average
Headed out for a hilly run through the Green Valley neighborhood and a little bit into TR. Thought of returning home via the swamp rabbit trail but decided I'd have plenty of opportunity to run the trail, so I'd take advantage of 1) having fewer miles to do and 2) not having to run with the stroller. Returned via Old White Horse and felt good. Happy to have gotten up and out early (6:30 a.m. start!) to get this done rather than waiting until later. Hoping for a nap because I haven't gotten to wake up without an alarm for like 2 weeks now, and I'm TIRED (and my pace shows it, too).

Week ending thoughts: Happy to have a goal race now, so next week will start according to the new scheduled plan. Also wanting to do a little tune-up for the Michelin 5k in 3 weeks to see how close I can get to sub-22. Excited to have a week where I got ALL of my workouts in, feeling strong. Some of the personal stresses from the beginning of the week are no longer an issue, but some remain.