This week, I ran 37 miles.

ART x 1.

Hip Strength x 1.

Core x 1.

This week was a cutback recovery week and I took full advantage of it. The past few weeks, I did a considerable amount of cross-training on my running rest days. A little bit of yoga and spin here and there has been making my legs feel fresh when it comes to workouts lately. But this week, the couch and some movies sounded more appealing. 🙂

Monday:

6.85 miles, 7:29 average (Speed ladder 1200m to 400m)

It’s been a long time since I had to write a speed workout on my hand so I wouldn’t forget the target paces. (I sweat it off by halfway through the workout, anyway haha.) Loving these “warm” temps –with the sun out this afternoon, it felt like spring.  The wind made a few of the intervals difficult. The path was still full of ice but I chose a section that was mostly clear and ran all of my repeats on the same section of the lakefront path.

2.38 w/up
Speed ladder with 200m RI (1 min walk, 1 min jog)
1200 – target 4:39/ actual 4:34
1000- target 3:49/ actual 3:44
800- target 3:02/ actual 3:01
600 – target 2:15/ actual 2:12
400- target 1:29/ actual 1:30
1.25 c/down

This was definitely a challenge. Legs had a hard time working through the 800 m interval after pushing hard on the 1200 and 1000. On top of that, I started to feel the affects of acid reflux in the last few repeats. I ate lunch an hour and a half before I started my run, so probably should have waited a bit longer to digest.

Tuesday:

5 recovery miles, 8:12 average. Treadmill.

+ Jillian Michaels 6 Week 6 Pack DVD –> RETURN OF JILLIAN MICHAELS! And yep, this DVD is just as hard as I remember it being last cycle. I actually consider this core and hip strength training because there are plenty of lunges and hip work. It’s amazing how strong you can feel after only 30 minutes of Jillian Michaels yelling at you through a tv screen.

Wednesday:

Complete rest day. I got my nails done and watched silly TV. Because, sometimes you just need a girly day. 🙂

Thursday:

7 miles, 7:34 average. (Progressive tempo-ish run)

+ Hip Strength Routine

Recovery week tempo-ish run. Ran 1 mi up, 5 mi progressive from 7:30-6:48, and 1 mi down. This actually didn’t feel as “easy” as I was expecting it to, probably because it was on the treadmill and the temptation to either slow down or stop is stronger. I haven’t locked into a strong tempo pace yet (still early in the cycle!) but I assumed working my way from 7:30 to 7:00 min/mile pace over 5 miles would feel easier. Really wish I had run this one outside instead of on the treadmill!

Friday:

5 recovery miles, 8:12 average. Treadmill.

10 min rowing + 10 min Stairmaster + ART appointment

Who knew the gym was the place to be at 7 pm on a Friday night?! I couldn’t believe how busy it was–thought it was going to be empty. The true sign of a good recovery run? My legs felt so much better after this than they did beforehand. Went to PT for another ART appointment in the morning. Worked out some left hip soreness and did some Graston on my outer left quad.

For no reason whatsoever, I felt like using the rowing machine and the Stairmaster after my run, neither of which I’ve used in the past 3-4 years? I consider this super light cross-training of the week. Plus, the stairs have to be good for these runnin’ glutes, right?!

Saturday:

13 mile long run, 7:31 average.

Cut back week long run out on the lakefront this morning. Motivated to get out there before the snow hit this afternoon. Some of my long runs this cycle are going to include some faster miles and a few goal marathon paced miles. I’ve never really done that besides some fast finish runs and I’m curious to see how it affects my overall training. I decided to do 1-2 mi w/up, 9-10 mi 7:20-7:35, and 1-2 mi c/down. My legs did a fair job of ‘turning on’, but not until later in the run when my face almost froze off in the wind. I really regret not wearing my neck gaiter to cover my face when I really needed it (last ~4-5 miles). Always a rude awakening when you enjoy running north and forget about the wind running the opposite direction. Solid airplane side-5 with Chanthana (thank goodness we didn’t meet 2 minutes beforehand–she would have caught me mid-snot-rocket!) 🙂 The legs felt pretty tired by the end but I was more frustrated with the cold wind than anything else.

Followed by (you guessed it!) yet another brunch with Chanthana and Corey. We’re like…really really really really really ridiculously good at brunching.

Sunday:

Brunch and total rest!

Thoughts:

I think I put in another solid week of training. I impressed myself with the speed ladder on Monday, and even though the progressive didn’t go well on Thursday, I’m sure it would have been a different outcome on any other day or if I chose to run outside. Tempos are mentally tough no matter what, but the treadmill adds a little bit more of a challenge than I was feeling up to that day. I’m happy with the long run, especially because I seemed to lock into the target pace early on and hold it fairly easily.

Bring on another good week!