Has another week seriously come to an end? It’s amazing how slow the days can seem and then all of the sudden before I know it a new week is about to begin.

This week had an unexpected mileage increase. Nothing too drastic, but I had a few longer days at the beginning of the week.

 

Before I get into it, here is a break down:

Monday

10.4 miles

 

Tuesday

Workout
2 mile warm up
6 x 20 second strids
800 meters FAST, 300 meter recovery, 300 meters FAST, 200 meter recovery (repeat x 4)
1 mile cool down

8 miles

 

Wednesday

9 very cold miles

 

Thursday

Workout
1 mile warm up
800 meters, 1 minute rest, 400 meters 2 minutes rest (repeat 5x)
3 x 200 meters
3 x 10 second strides
1 mile cool down

9 miles

 

Friday

Off

 

Saturday

12 miles

 

Sunday

8 miles

 

That makes a grand total of around 56 miles for the week. Not the highest week I’ve ever had by any means, but in comparison to the past several it was an increase.

It wasn’t intentional going into the week. Monday morning I got up bright and early with Wes to run before he went into work. That means I was up and out the door running by 3:50 AM.

I ran 8 miles as planned and then cooled down with him after he workout. By the time we got back to the house I had run just over 10.4 miles.

It was early but I was thankful to have the day off from work so after a quick shower I took a 3 hour glorious nap. Poor hubby didn’t get as lucky and was into work by 6:45.

Tuesdsay I had to get back into the work routine, so was up per usual time to get in my first workout of the week.

I kept to shorter faster intervals. Honestly, both my workouts on Tuesday and Thursday went really well. I’m happy to say that my legs are officially back.

 

Saturday it was a mix of snow and freezing rain here so unfortunately that meant I was going to spend my morning in the gym. The treadmill has its positives and negatives, but I decided I was going to try and make the most of it.

Usually when I get stuck on the treadmill for a long run day I like to turn it into some sort of longer workout to help break up the monotony.

Since my marathon back in the first of December, I really haven’t done any tempo work. One big fear I had coming out of the marathon and after taking about 3 weeks easy is that I was going to lose the speed that I had worked hard for. I want to continue building off the speed I was at, that is why I have begun workouts again over the past couple weeks.

I spoke with Wes and we decided that it was a good opportunity to throw back in a tempo run of some sort to help with my confidence and to see where I was currently.

Here is the workout that was created for Saturday:

Warm up
20 minute tempo (7:50 pace)
Recovery
3 x 5 minutes (5 minutes on/5 minutes off; 7:30 pace)
Recovery
20 minute tempo (7:50 pace)
Cool down

Here is the workout that I actually did. I had to modify it mid-run:

Warm up
20 minute tempo (7:53 pace)
5 minute recovery
3 x 5 minutes (5 minutes on/5 minutes off; 7:30 pace)
5 minute recovery
10 minute tempo (7:53 pace)
10 minute recovery
1 minute x 2 minutes (7:20/recovery) for a total of 10 minutes
Cool down

This workout is no joke. The actual workout, which my husband did Saturday in preperation for Boston, was even longer but I modified it. There was no reason for me to push as hard as the actual workout called for. Knowing when to call it quits or when to back off is so important.

 

On a completely different note, we finally found a time where both Wes and myself can take time off work! We found a week in May and are officially in vacation planning mode! It’s been FAR too long since we’ve had a vacation and I am so excited!

I even made sure my computer at work was in vacation work as well!

 

Finally, just like last week I will leave you with a new song I am currently LOVING!

One Republic – “I Lived” It is a pretty powerful video and a great song to run to especially when you are throwing in intervals!

 

How was your weekend?

Where is the last place you went on vacation? Give us some ideas!