Miles Run this week: 31.9mi (first 30+ week!)
Monday - New Year holiday
Run
Got the day off from work today for the New Year holiday, but unfortunately it was pretty rainy most of the day. Didn't have any specific plans for today's run, but knew I needed to get out since I didn't yesterday. Scott took D out in the bike trailer so I could get in a non-stroller run. Would have liked to trail run but with the recent rain everything was pretty muddy. I took the opportunity to run an out-and-back through Green Valley. Felt good to do some hills and took it at an easy pace. Total 5.25 miles.
Run
Got the day off from work today for the New Year holiday, but unfortunately it was pretty rainy most of the day. Didn't have any specific plans for today's run, but knew I needed to get out since I didn't yesterday. Scott took D out in the bike trailer so I could get in a non-stroller run. Would have liked to trail run but with the recent rain everything was pretty muddy. I took the opportunity to run an out-and-back through Green Valley. Felt good to do some hills and took it at an easy pace. Total 5.25 miles.
Tuesday - #10kTuesday
Plan: 2mi warmup, 3mi race pace (8:00/mi), 1.2mi cooldown
Since I didn't get my 3 mile race pace run on Sunday, I figured I could work it into today's 10k Tuesday run. It's coolish (50) and misty rain out, which turned out to be perrrrrrfect running weather. Warmed up with a couple of easy miles, then cranked up the pace for 3 miles with a target pace of 8:00/mi. Finished out the 10k with an easy cooldown.
Woohoo!
Sooooo yeah... pretty pleased with the "race pace" splits there! A little overeager, and no wonder it felt hard to hold that pace.
Wednesday - XT
bike ride
Finally got back on the bike for a lunch time ride! Thanks to Megan for suggesting we start lunch rides again. She and I did the Upstate Loop, 10.5 miles at average 13.8mph. It was windy which made the ride tough but felt great to get out on the road bike.
Thursday - #speedworkThursday
7 x 400 intervals
This run went exactly as planned! Hit the treadmill early to avoid the January gym crowd. Warmed up with a 9:20 mile, then kicked into the intervals. Pretty simple quarter mile speed / quarter mile recovery alternating.
3x intervals at 6:30/mi
2x intervals at 6:45/mi
2x intervals at 7:00/mi
Finished with a nice three-quarter mile cooldown at 9:20. Total of 5 miles covered and feeling good and strong! Mandy Moore helped me through the final bit of the run...
Wednesday - XT
bike ride
Finally got back on the bike for a lunch time ride! Thanks to Megan for suggesting we start lunch rides again. She and I did the Upstate Loop, 10.5 miles at average 13.8mph. It was windy which made the ride tough but felt great to get out on the road bike.
Thursday - #speedworkThursday
7 x 400 intervals
This run went exactly as planned! Hit the treadmill early to avoid the January gym crowd. Warmed up with a 9:20 mile, then kicked into the intervals. Pretty simple quarter mile speed / quarter mile recovery alternating.
3x intervals at 6:30/mi
2x intervals at 6:45/mi
2x intervals at 7:00/mi
Finished with a nice three-quarter mile cooldown at 9:20. Total of 5 miles covered and feeling good and strong! Mandy Moore helped me through the final bit of the run...
Friday - yoga
Sometimes I don't really feel like going to yoga - I'd rather just power through the rest of my work day and get stuff done before the weekend. But then I finally convince myself to go, and it feels so much better. #namaste
Now let's see how much snow we actually get this weekend... (and how badly it's going to screw up my training plans).
Saturday - long run
Typically my training plan has long runs on Sundays, but given the weather situation, I figured I'd go ahead and knock out my 12-miler at the first opportunity. I headed out Saturday right after lunch and the sun had just really started shining about 11am. Most of the road snow had melted, but some spots that didn't get any sun were still icy. I ran from home over to the Swamp Rabbit trail, took a loop through Furman's campus, and then headed home.
As fast as my 11-miler was last weekend, I was surprised how difficult this run was. Maybe it was due to having to pay extra attention to my footsteps in the ice, or maybe it was just running at a different time of day (afternoon instead of morning). Who knows, but by the end, I was pooped!
Saturday - long run
Typically my training plan has long runs on Sundays, but given the weather situation, I figured I'd go ahead and knock out my 12-miler at the first opportunity. I headed out Saturday right after lunch and the sun had just really started shining about 11am. Most of the road snow had melted, but some spots that didn't get any sun were still icy. I ran from home over to the Swamp Rabbit trail, took a loop through Furman's campus, and then headed home.
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| On the Swamp Rabbit Trail |
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| The Furman belltower with beautiful snow-covered Paris Mountain in the background |
Sunday - recovery run
Was supposed to be a race pace run, but didn't have it in me to do 8-min miles on icy roads. Instead, I took a short 3-mi trot out in the neighborhood to check on some road conditions for Scott before he headed out on his bicycle.
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| Still icy! |
Legs were still tired from Saturday's efforts, so I took the opportunity when I got back to do a bit of rolling on the leg muscles (while sitting by the fire - very nice!).
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| My training buddy helped with the rolling. |
Overall, everything this week went pretty much as planned... trying to not get discouraged that my effort on the 12-miler felt hard and slow. Being my first week above 30 miles, I'm sure it's just a bit of adaptation to the added training volume. Here's to another week to come!
