Training Update: Spring is here!!

This week began with temperatures in the single digits, but ended with highs of 45 degrees. I’m pretty excited about the change, and I’m hoping that the snow leaves for good. I’m definitely feeling a lot better than I was a week ago, and I’m back to my usual training intensity. Also, I jumped on the bandwagon and got a Believe Training Journal. I gotta say, I love it. There are lots of helpful hints on training and also on what you should include in a training journal. The material in it is light hearted, and it helped me keep track of how I felt all week.

Monday: Rest day
I felt pretty terrible, and ended up taking the afternoon off from work to sleep.

Tuesday: More Rest
I was still feeling pretty icky, so I laid low, went into work late and did not run.

Wednesday: 3.1 miles on treadmill + Yoga
I was feeling a lot better and decided to run. I didn’t really want to run in the cold with such a terrible cough, so I went to the gym and ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I took it really slow and just focused on my breathing. I had to stop a few times from coughing, but I felt ok and pretty strong, despite the cold.

Thursday: Unintentional 0 miles + Yoga
I had intended to run on Thursday, but I got stuck at work until pretty late. I had to teach yoga at 8 pm and I took the class before mine and did most of my class along with the students. I didn’t really want to run at the gym late at night, so I just went home to rest. I wanted to run, just didn’t work out. Eh….Oh well.

Friday: Hill Repeats x 6 – total of 4.4 miles + yoga
Friday was the first day that I felt totally fine again. It was also 7 degrees. I sucked it up and ran outside with a 10 minute warm up, and then 6 times up and down the only hill in town. It isn’t exactly big, but I tried to keep a pretty good pace on the way up to tire myself out. Worked pretty well, and I had major runner’s high afterwards. I warmed down for about 10 minutes and kept an overall pace of 9:15/mile. Pretty fun workout! Yoga was awesome, as per usual.

Saturday: Easy 4.3 miles + Hiked 6 miles
Saturday had a high of 45 degrees (I know, it was 7 the day before. The midwest is nuts!), so Frank and I took the opportunity and went hiking at a state park close by. The trails were covered in snow, but the skies were blue and it was wonderful to finally be able to be outside without a jacket. In the afternoon, Frank biked while I ran along a bike trail about 30 minutes outside South Bend. It was relaxing and fun! I tried to keep it chill and had a pace of 9:30/mile.

Sunday: 12 mile long run + Yoga
Ah, finally a long run. I missed mine last week from being sick and I was really happy to get out. The day was perfect too, with blue skies and warm (for Indiana) weather. I ran along the river, at my usual long run spot. Miles 10 and 11 were kinda slow, since I was on tired legs from running three days in a row. Besides that, it felt great to be out there. I kept a 9:34/mile pace.

Total Milage: 23.8

I’m pretty excited about this upcoming week. I have the first trail race of the season on saturday, and the temperatures are supposed to make it all the way up to 60 degrees. I can’t wait to be running in comfortable weather and IN SHORTS! The trail race is at Mounds State Park and is through the Do Indiana Outdoors trail series. I’m pretty excited for this one, and hopefully I’ll get to participate in a few more of their events. Next week should look something like this:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Kristina’s Virtual 10K
Wednesday: Recovery Run with Run Group
Thursday: Intervals
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 15K Trail Race
Sunday: Recovery Run

How was your week? Is the weather looking better where you are too?