"Nailed it!"

This was my first week of official training under my coach in 2016, and also I guess you could say I am "officially" marathon training now since I am building towards the Prairie Fire Marathon in October and the Bass Pro Marathon in November through his training schedules!  What this means:  no longer deciding my workouts the night before based on texts with Missy.  Oh, and also that I have someone looking at my longer-term goals and development. :-)

Week of June 6-12:

Mileage: 48.4 (it wasn't easy to be this close to 50 yet not run 50 - nailed not being too obsessive and following the schedule here!)

Monday – My new schedule started with a non-running day, and I nailed it.  Hah!  I truly needed a day off pounding and exertion, so I opted for a super easy 35-minute lap swim in the morning in lieu of my usual Monday bootcamp, and also did 10 minutes of planking in the evening.

Tuesday - 8 miles base pace (7:31).  This run took me 1:00:09, which is true proof that I don’t obsess on my watch on easy days – because you know I would have knocked out that last mile to get in in 59:59, even though that really wouldn’t mean anything (therefore we will say I nailed being not obsessive today!).  Right after the run I did 25 minutes of strength work:  goblin squats, rows, single leg squats, curtsy lunges, single leg dead lifts, push-ups, calf raises, and glute bridges (I think that was it!).

Wednesday – 10.1 miles base pace (7:20) with 6 x 20 second strides in the last mile.  This was one of those mornings where I just couldn’t slow down once I got warmed up (my first mile was 8:01, which I guess I needed to wake up).  The course I ran has a lot of downhill on the way out (miles 2-4 especially), and you have to climb back up it coming back, but it seems like the downhill helps me get going and I don't slow down too much coming back up. It was beautiful out and 55 degrees!  I wished I had had a hard workout on tap this day because I know I would have nailed it, but I nailed this base run. 

Base pace 10

Base pace 10 elevation

Thursday – 11.2 miles total, with a workout and a double day!  Morning was 2 miles warm-up, 4 miles tempo, 2.1 miles cool-down.  After bombing my 10K last weekend, my confidence for this workout was shot.  My goal pace range per my coach was 6:18-6:30 and I was questioning my ability to even run at the high end of that range.  However, I’d felt great on Wednesdays run and knew I would give it my all on this workout, whatever pace that was!

I ran with Missy, around my 0.8 mile neighborhood loop – so the tempo was 5 laps.  Based on my awful race, I thought that 6:30 pace was going to be HARD, so I started out at a harder effort that I worried wasn't fast enough, looked at my watch and saw 6:02 pace, and then had to reel it in.  I came through mile 1 at 6:14 and this felt sustainable.  Mile 2 was also 6:14!  Mile 3…6:14.  I feel like I should win some even pace award here!  I was torn between trying to hit a 4^th mile of 6:14 (because how cool would that be?) and picking up the final mile a bit, and ended up doing the latter with a 6:07 final mile.  And it felt great!  I definitely could have continued on for 2.2 more miles at that pace if I were in a race, although my glutes and hamstrings were feeling my Tuesday strength session.  Where oh where was this performance last weekend?!?  But I was glad to nail it today for sure.  I just hate to have my best performances in training and not racing.

2 warm-up, 4 tempo, 2 cool-down

In the evening, I ran a 5K mostly with Jon (7:33 average).  I felt the best I have in a double in a long time, possibly ever!  The ironic part is that it was 88 degrees.  I haven't done too many doubles, but often the second run is quite a slog! 

Friday –  Cross-training Friday:  40 minute easy lap swim and 45 minute HIIT bootcamp.  I could tell that I hadn't been to bootcamp for a couple of weeks!  Not sure how much I like swimming before, because I had goggle marks and wet hair for class, but I feel like it's more beneficial than lazily doing the elliptical as I usually do to loosen up before bootcamp.  My arms were more tired for sure!  I also had a little soreness in my upper body the next day (traps, pecs, delts mostly).

Saturday – Long run of 13.1 (7:25 average for the whole shebang).  This was actually supposed to be 12, but Missy and I clearly cannot do math when we start and end at different starting points and run a loop course (we met when I was at about 1 and she was at 2.5ish).  This is the second time in as many long runs that we ran like this that I ended up long when I got back at my house, haha!  This run was 8 miles base pace, then cut down each mile by 5-10 seconds for the final 4 miles (then my extra 1.1 mile was just base pace again).  I love a good fast finish long run!  This also feels pretty short for a long run, but the distance will change soon enough.

Saturday's run was actually a half marathon on accident

Sunday - 6 miles easy (7:39). I started this one late for me, at 6:59 a.m., and it was warm and humid so I was quite okay with stopping at 6! I was a bit tired but it was perfect for a shake out.  I spent quite a bit of time outside on Saturday, didn't eat very healthy, and didn't sleep enough, so I was happy and surprised that my easy pace was still in the 7:30's!

Hardest cross-training I did all week!