4 Weeks In

I am now four full weeks into my training schedule.  I have definitely shaken the dust off and am back into full training mode.  This is my second week hitting 50 miles with three quality speed workouts.  It happened to be a very fun week too.  I am not sure what kind of mileage my coach will pile on this season, but it is nice to be in the 50s range once again.

Alright, maybe not beast mode yet - but getting there.  :)

Monday is my rest day, but I was able to get some arm weights in and planks.  I need to get back into a better routine of abs/pilates.

Tuesday I ran five miles in the morning (8:55 pace).  A heat wave moved in during the day and our track workout got rescheduled to 8:00 pm at a park rather than 6:30 at a track.  It was still 90 degrees at 7:00, so the boys and I decided to skip it.  We were racing in the morning anyway.  So we all agreed we'd move our scheduled track workout to Saturday morning.

Wednesday we raced the mile.  It was a complete debacle.  However, I ended up pulling off a 6:08.  With my warm up and super hot cool down, I ran almost 7.5 miles.  I also did my arm weights again.

Thursday I got up early and ran a pyramid fartlek workout.  I warmed up for 4 miles, then did the following:

1 minute 5k pace; 90 seconds rest
2 minutes 5k pace; 90 seconds rest
3 minutes 5k pace; 90 seconds rest
4 minutes 5k pace; 90 seconds rest
3 minutes 5k pace; 90 seconds rest
2 minutes 5k pace; 90 seconds rest
1 minute 5k pace; cool down.

I ended up with a total of 9.2 miles.  This workout was HARD because - well it is a hard workout - but also because it was crazy hot.  Even though I got up early, it was already 77 degrees, full sun and almost 80% humidity.  Yuck.

Thursday night we went to Summerfest and saw The Zac Brown Band.  They were awesome.  But it was a very late (and crazy hot) night.  We didn't stroll back into the door until after 2:00 am.

Naturally, that meant I was not getting up at the crack of dawn on Friday.  Instead, I slept in and did not get  out for my run until it was already "feels like" 103 degrees.  Crikey.  But I had an awesome run anyway.  Ended up with 6.8 miles at 8:50 pace.

Saturday morning, the boys and I got up bright and early to do our Tuesday night track workout.  It was another warm, humid (read: brutal) morning, but we got it done!  We did a boatload of 400s.  With my warm up and cool down, I got in 8 miles.

Later in the afternoon, the boys got invited to a sleep-over.  Woot!  That meant John and I had a night to ourselves.  So we went out to dinner and then met up with some friends for some drinks.  Unfortunately, we did not get home as early as I was hoping to.

The serious heat wave finally broke on Saturday night and I got it into my head that it would be nice and cool for my long run Sunday.  Well, I was wrong.  In part because I did not get up super early.  Also in part because even though it wasn't 100 degrees, logging a long run in the 80s is tough too!  I ended up logging 13.5 miles (8:59 pace).  The last few miles were brutal and my heart rate was a bit out of control, but I got it done.  And my last miles were the fastest miles (8:42; 8:13).

Total: 50.1 miles.

Next week I have a cut-back week, but I will continue to get in my speed work.  Only two weeks until the Capitol Mile!