Week 4 of 5k training is DONE! Yes!

I had a really successful week and it ended at the beach. You can’t get much better than that. I’m officially halfway through this new training cycle and I’m excited to already be seeing improvements in speed. They may be small but my quicker paces are getting faster and feeling a bit easier.

 

Here is a look at my training for this week:

Monday – 6.10 miles

I figured out pretty quickly that Monday would be pretty difficult. I knew I needed to get a hill workout in, but with our travel plans I knew it had to be done Monday. I didn’t have anyone to watch E so I quickly also figured out I’d be doing a hill workout with the stroller.

6 x a hill while walking back down. This was even harder than I could have imagined and pretty exhausting, but glad I pushed through and didn’t make any excuses!

 

Tuesday – 4.45 miles

Easy 40 minutes as usual on Tuesday. It wasn’t anything special or amazing, it was just one of those runs that was OK. The weather wasn’t as hot at the beginning of the week which made for some much easier runs!

 

Wednesday – 9.10 miles

I was really excited to have a track workout on the schedule for Wednesday. My parents agreed to babysit Easton while I headed to a high school track to get a big workout in. It’s been a while since I’ve had a true solo track workout so even though I was nervous I was excited to see what I could do.

3 mile warm up, 10 x 400 meters (90 second recovery), 2 minute recovery, 4 x 200 meters, and a 15 minute cool down. The goal was 1:40 for each of the 400 meters and my splits ended up being: 1:32 (whoops had to get pacing under control), 1:33, 1:34, 1:33, 1:37, 1:35, 1:36, 1:37, 1:38, and 1:38.

I have to say this workout was FUN. I felt like the “old me” again, but this time I got to go home to my sweet Easton afterwards which made it even more fun!

 

Thursday – 4.14 miles

My schedule called for another easy 40 minutes on Thursday but instead of just going out and running aimlessly as I usually do I decided to try out hear rate training. My goal for the run was to keep my hear rate under 150 mph. Let me tell you this was no easy task!

It was the slowest recovery day I’ve had in a while and I had to really work to stay slow but I know it helped me truly feel better after a tough workout on Wednesday!

 

Friday – Off

 

Saturday – 7.05 miles

Our first full day at the beach and I woke up to 18 mph winds! I could have talked myself out of my final workout for the week, but I KNEW I would regret it!

I started nice and slow and let my body get into it. I ran a 2 mile warm up, 15 x 1 min on/1 min off, and a 1.5 mile cool down. The “on” minutes typically were around a 6:45 pace but they definietly became harder as I reached those last 3-4.

 

Sunday – 9.19 miles

I woke up a little later on Sunday and when I checked the weather I cringed knowing how hot and humid it was already. I knew it was going to be a bit of a struggle but I tried hard to simply focus on getting it done. I got dressed, got Easton dressed, and then passed him off to the in-laws as I went to run.

Wes ran with me the first couple miles which helped but then thankfully I got into a rhythm. The last mile was definietly tough but I pushed through and got it done!

80 minute long run for a total of 9.19 miles!

 

If you weren’t adding that up that’s a total of 40 miles for the week! The highest mileage I’ve run in a while but I have to say I’ve been feeling REALLY good. It’s rare for me to say that. It doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been days when I’m tired or it’s hard for me to get out the door, but my body has been recovering well and I’m enjoying the faster/shorter workouts.