It's April! - Week in Review

I'm getting back in the swing of things!

Weekly mileage:  61.2 (9 AlterG) - this is a huge week for me!

Monday 3/28 - 4.1 mile shake out (7:35).  My legs felt crappy until mile 4; I blame 10 hours in the car over the weekend!  Also did HIIT bootcamp after the run.

Tuesday 3/29 - 2 warm-up, 5 miles tempo (6:29), 1 mile recovery, 2 x 1 mile speed work in 6:10 and 6:12 with 0.5 recovery, 2.5 cool-down for 13 miles total.  Details here.

Wednesday 3/30 - 8 recovery miles with Missy a.m. (7:51); 4 recovery miles with Jon (his tempo) p.m. (7:53).  Every Wednesday is windy lately!

Thursday 3/31 - 9 miles on the AlterG treadmill at 80% body weight (5:56 pace).  I was told that for every 10% body weight you take off, you can run 0.6 mph faster.  So 10 mph on the AlterG = 8.8 mph (6:49 pace).  I swear it feels even easier than that!  But it is a treadmill and they always feel easier than outside and aren't really "real". I have 3 more passes left so there will be 3 more AlterG Thursdays for more mileage with less impact.

Friday 4/1 - HIIT bootcamp and elliptical (no running).

Saturday 4/2 - 1.5 warm-up, paced the 1:40 group at the Big Party Half Marathon, 1 easy, 1 MGP (6:51), 0.5 easy for 17.1 total.  I finished in 1:39:16 (7:33 pace for 13.14 per my Garmin), so wasn't the best pacer, but I also think the course was a tad short (it was not certified). Typically Garmin error is about 0.01 per mile on certified courses (making a certified half read about 13.24 on Garmin) so I was aiming to keep all of my splits 7:33-7:34 on my Garmin.  I was also planning to look at the course miles for splits to ensure I was right on, but the course miles were way off (as in, my first mile per the course markers was around 8:00 then my second was around 6:30!).  Pacing was fun and this was a perfect long run for me, but I also learned that I am too competitive to enjoy pacing 100%!  No one ran with me the entire race, but I had a man with me from about miles 4-10 and a woman from about 9-12, so I hope I helped them towards their goals!  The event was also for a great cause and fun to be part of.

Sunday 4/3 - 6 miles shake out (7:59), with 6 X 20 sec strides. I could feel Saturday's 17 miles plus 3 hours of hard work - but my arm was not sore from carrying the pacing sign (not to mention fighting the wind with it), which was a pleasant surprise!

Big Party Half Marathon pace sign & medal