Hi there!

In case you missed it, make sure to check out my interview with running coach Dan Walters. My husband and I can’t say enough great things about him and his wealth of knowledge is beyond anything I’ve seen.

I hope each and every one of you had a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving! Once again this year, we were so blessed to be able to see both families and I can’t tell you how wonderful that was.

This week has been great mostly because I’ve been able to run in the day light 4 days! I am pretty sure that was is a record since I went back to work almost two years ago. Even though I know it isn’t going to stay that way, I am welcoming it with open arms!

 

Lets take a look at my week:

Monday – 6 miles

Monday started off as usual with an easy run. I opted for just over 6 miles and tried my best to relax and let my body run whatever it needed to.

It was also fun starting this week since I knew it was only a 3 day work week.

I love seeing the sun come up each morning, just wish it would happen a little earlier so I could actually run part in the sunlight.

 

Tuesday – 8 miles

I opted for the treadmill Tuesday morning. It was in the low 20’s when I woke up, and I wanted to have a quality workout so I made it work.

I opted for a ladder workout ranging from 5k pace to 1/2 marathon pace depending on the portion of the ladder I was on. Thankfully changing the pace up really helped the time to pass quickly.

Sometimes the treadmill can be the perfect tool!

 

Wednesday – Off

This isn’t what you typically see on a Wednesday for me, but I decided to switch things around a bit. I knew that if I switched my rest day this week it would allow more time for me to run during the daylight hours.

It was an easy decision for me and perfect for this week.

 

Thursday – 9 miles

The original plan was to do a 5k Thursday morning, but a couple days before that fell through. Instead, Wes and I decided we would head to the track near my parents to get in a good workout.

I started with an easy 2 mile warm up and then did a 5 mile tempo around the track. I averaged a 7:08 pace which was a bit faster than I had planned but I felt really good.

I finished off with a 2 mile cool down and quick strides before heading back to my parents before getting ready for Thanksgiving!

 

Friday – 6 miles

Friday morning my goal was to go out and run as easy as possible to let my legs adequately recover between Thursday’s workout and Saturday’s long run.

I did worked in 3 x 100 meters strides and 4 x 10 second hills sprints.

 

Saturday – 13 miles

As I have for the past couple weeks, I decided to work in a small workout into my long run. To be honest, when I woke up Saturday morning I really wasn’t feeling it. I was tired and my husband had to work Saturday night, so I was sulking a little bit.

One thing that can usually get me a bit more excited is some new running gear! My husband surprised me with these New Balance Zantes earlier this week. I have been eyeing them for quite some time now and long run day seemed like the perfect time to try them out.

I headed out to the local trail and took off. The workout was: 3 miles easy, 3 miles (2 minutes 10k/half marathon pace x 2 minutes easy), 3 miles easy, 2 miles (1 minute 5k pace x 1 minute easy), and 2 mile cool down. In total 13 miles.

I love the local trail, but I always worry when I go to run on it because I know every single inch of it. Instead of focusing on that I tried to focus on the section I was in.

The time passed surprisingly quick and by the end I felt quite accomplished.

I have to say, I really loved the Zantes! They are light enough for speed work but have enough cushion in them to be great for long runs. I can tell these are going to be a big part of my running!

 

Sunday – 6 miles

I have 6 easy miles on the schedule for Sunday morning and after this week I am really looking forward to it!

 

What was your best run this week?

Did you race on Thanksgiving?