Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Weekly Recap: the random week

I've never done a recap before... it's probably not going to be super exciting! So, now that I've basically said "Don't read this"... keep reading it please?!

I feel like this is the prologue week? This week is officially 18 weeks from my fall marathon, which is kind of what I consider my 'official' training cycle. So over the last week it was basically a recovery from the CDA 1/2 last weekend, and just a chance to start working on my head. While I didn't 'race' the half, it did turn out to be a 13 mile goal pace run, so it did require a little recovery.

Monday: 5 recovery miles. The first chance to take the Garmin and practice NOT panicking when my pace crept up into the 9 minute range (for me, that's the pace I tend to avoid). I made sure not a single mile dipped under 9. I ran to redbox, returned 'Frozen' (took me months to finally see it, adored it!) and ran home. It was hot, but the easy pace felt amazing.

Tuesday: 7.5 miles at the Swifts speed workout. I went intending to see how I felt and not push myself too hard. Even the warm up felt tough, and I was much more tired than I expected. We ran a combo of 800s on the roads, and short hill repeats in between sets. It felt decent, but my hip started tightening up badly on the 4th 800 so I backed off and just finished the workout at a moderate pace.

Wednesday: Rest day! I went to the pool for my first swim in ... oh 18 months. I think since I raced my last triathlon. It was a rude awakening. Running fitness does not translate to the pool and my shoulders were screaming after 100 yards. I swam 30 minutes, and lost count of my laps. It felt rusty and my lungs were toast by the end. All night I had the 'take a sort of deep breath, cough a lot' problem. Swimming will hopefully make a regular appearance going forward.
Super awkward gym selfie after a swim! Fuzzy cap hair, goggle eyes... I'm a catch!

Thursday: 5 miles easy and strides. Kept the pace in check again... and ran the strides hard. Nothing fancy!

Friday: 6.3 miles at an easy pace again. It almost feels like cheating to take the miles so easy! But boy it seriously feels so good. Just overriding the panic of "I'm getting slooooow!!! Must speed up!"

Saturday: 12 mi long run. I met up with my friend Danielle who had 8 miles on her plan with a tempo section. We ran a 2 mi warm up, her 4 mile tempo at her HMGP, a 2 mi cooldown and then I ran the 4 mi loop one more time to complete my mileage. I ended up with a fast finish run, just to get it done! It was a warm day even by 8 when we started, and we were both melting.

Sunday: 6 mile run in the evening, preceded by 25 min swim and 25 min weight session while kidlet noodled around the pool. Tried to focus on arms so that my legs could run later, but lifting after a swim? Whoa. And  Lauren Fleshman's Freaking Awesome ab workout-which I'm in love with and try to do 2-3x a week.
No sleep, unpictured huge coffee, and some cowbell. Ready to cheer!!
I spent Sunday morning spectating the Windermere half marathon which was a blast! My sister ran her 2nd half ever, killing it with a 12 minute PR! A ton of my Swifts teammates and friends were also racing. It was a lot of fun to leapfrog and cheer everyone on! Some days, it's so good to be a spectator. I may have been in tears hollering at my sister as she finished the run.
Super sister! With her mile long stride headed for her 1:38 finish!!

Anyone else love spectating just as much? Or do you always wish you were racing too?

Who else swims about as fast as driftwood? I think a floating foam noodle lapped me! 

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