Today’s Workout – Long Run

Total Mileage: 13.05 miles

Total Time: 02:04:54

Average Pace: 9:15 min/mile

I can’t believe another week is already over! This was one of the toughest weeks mentally and personally for me I have had in quite a while, but I am proud to say I stuck to my training!

Monday – Recovery Run

5 mile easy recovery run at an average of a 9:44 min/pace.

Tuesday – Tempo Run

0.5 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo (8:13, 8:06, 8:00, 7:53), 0.75 mile jog, 30 sec on/30 sec off (7:30 on/10:00 off), 1.25 mile cool down for a total of 7 miles.

Wednesday – Split Recovery Run

5 miles in the AM at an average 9:06 min/pace and 5 miles in the PM on the treadmill at an average 9:40 min/pace.

Thursday – Speed Work

0.5 mile warm up, 8 x 400’s at 7:05 pace, 400 jog in between each, 1.5 mile cool down for a total of 6 miles.

Friday – Rest Day

Saturday – Speed Work

0.5 mile warm up, 10 x 200’s (1 min) at 6:50 pace, 2:00 min job at 9:40 pace in between each, 1.2 mile cool down for a total of 5.1 miles.

Sunday – Long Run

13.5 mile long run.  The first 6.5 miles were easy and relaxed until I hit 2 HUGE hills mid way through the run.  Once my body was able to recover from that I picked it back up and finished the last 3 miles under 9:00 min/pace (8:38, 8:40, 8:32, and the last 0.5 at 8:41).

There was some beautiful scenery on my run that is for sure, but this picture was taken right before one of those crazy hills.

This would be at the top of the previously mentioned hill.

Total Mileage – 46.5 miles

This week’s joys/successes:

1. I am noticing an increase in my “easy” pace.  This is a great sign that all of this speed work I have put my body through is working!

2. I am used to running two “long” runs on the weekends, but this week since I had to work Saturday I am proud that I was still able to keep my mileage around last weeks (only 1.5 miles less).

3. Today’s long run speed had increased from last week. I was very happy I was able to keep my last 3.5 miles of my long run under a 9:00 min pace.

My husband has always taught me that if I am feeling good, take advantage of it! There are going to be some runs where you don’t feel good so use it when you can.

This week’s struggles:

1. Stress.  There have been a lot of things going on this week that have caused a lot of stress and it makes it much tougher to keep a strong mind during these runs.

2. Tempo Run.  My tempo run this week was incredibly hard, but I know that I will get better.  I just don’t think my mind was where it was supposed to be.

3. My eating has been all over the place this week.  I am aiming to work much harder at eating better and smarter this week instead of just bingeing here and there.

What did your weekend workouts look like? What was the best part of your week?

I’ll leave you with this awesome video I took of my hubby running. I went back to pick him up and while riding along besides him snapped this video. He truly is my inspiration and is training hard to run a sub 2:30 in the Chicago Marathon in October.