Hey friends!
Here is what training looked like the week of 06.14.21 – 06.20.21:
Monday – Easy: 7 miles (8:25 pace)
I ran after work Monday and it was quite the struggle! It was hot, yes, but I think the main problem was that I was still not recovered from Saturday’s quality session. I managed to get 7 miles in, but it wasn’t super pleasant.
Tuesday – Easy: 6.3 miles (9:18 pace) + PM – Strength (30 minutes)
I was supposed to do a workout Tuesday morning, but given how bad my legs felt on Monday afternoon, I thought better of it. Until I get used to having quality miles sprinkled back into my weekly routine, I’m going to need more time in between the workout days. Typically 2-3 days would be fine, but for now it will probably be more like 3-4 or 4-5 days in between. I struggled again Tuesday just to run easy miles and several walk breaks were needed. Argh.
It has been a few weeks since I have done legs at the gym and I had a sneaking suspicion that Gabbi would have that in store for me this week … and I was right! How wonderful. Legs are already trashed? Seems like as good a time as any to make sure they truly felt like garbage. Ha! We did kettle bell squats, walking lunges with weights, a single leg kneeling to standing exercise (also with weights!), the hip abductor and adductor machine, the leg press machine and a couple other things that escape me at the moment. It was a good workout and oddly enough, I don’t think my legs were any worse for the wear afterwards.
Wednesday – Easy: 7 miles (9:04 pace)
I met friends again Wednesday morning for some nice recovery miles. I think (at least I hope) this might a consistent staple in the weekly routine for the time being. Yay!
Thursday AM – Quality: 9 miles (7:14 pace) + PM – Strength (45 minutes)
I finally got my workout in Thursday morning! As an added bonus, it was COOL when I walked outside. Of course, cool is relative. It was 68° w/ a dew point of 62° and compared to what we’ve been dealing with, let me tell you that this was a real TREAT. My workout was a two mile warm up, 6 X 1k at threshold with 2 minute recoveries and a two mile cool down.
With the workout distance in kilometers, this one would’ve been well suited for the track, but I decided to program the distance into my watch and run on the road instead. For whatever reason, I have a really hard time getting out the door earlier than usual to drive to the track. I used to live within running distance of the track, which apparently spoiled me. Now that I don’t live within running distance of the track, it seems that I simply can’t be bothered to make it happen. Ha. Thankfully, there is a nice, flat stretch of road that has minimal traffic that is currently within running distance. That spot has definitely become my go-to spot for workouts. The plan was to aim for around 6:15 on these and either stay consistent or progressively get a tad faster. My splits were 6:23, 6:06, 6:07, 6:11, 6:02 and 5:55 pace. I’d say that the goal was accomplished!
After work I went to the gym for a 45 minute group strength training class. I got there a little bit early and did a few minutes on the elliptical to kill the time. For the class we did three sets of seven different exercises for one minute (pushups, planks, battle ropes, step ups, wall ball, wall sit and spin bike). It was a good workout and the time really flew by!
Friday – Easy: 4 miles (9:20 pace)
After a big day on Thursday, I wanted to make sure to take it really easy on Friday. I did a couple miles on the driveway before work and that was it. Overall, I was feeling pretty tired and run down, but I guess that is to be expected.
Saturday – Easy: Elliptical (40 minutes) + Strength (15 minutes)
Saturday was a total washout thanks to Tropical Storm Claudette. Not gonna lie, it was really nice to have a legit excuse to stay in pajamas for the majority of the day and alternate between reading and napping. I read an entire book and think I took three mini-naps! By late afternoon, however, I was a bit stir crazy and so I decided to go over to the gym for a few minutes for some light cross training. I didn’t really want to do too much, but I did want to do at least something … so that’s pretty much exactly what I did!
Sunday – Easy: 7.7 miles (8:25 pace)
I was supposed to do a quality session Sunday, but decided against it. My legs were finally feeling back to normal, which was nice, but I still didn’t want to really push it. I settled for a “sailboat loop” from home before going to church with my dad. I got in a short walk with my mom after church as well, so all in all, it was a solid day of family activities!
Totals –
41 miles running
3 miles walking
70 minutes elliptical
90 minutes strength
Thanks for reading along! Talk to you guys soon.