Last week was my final chill week before I start training for the Hospital Hill Half Marathon. It has been nice to run when I want, and not when I don’t, but I am pretty excited to get back to a regular schedule. I’ve had a few aches and pains that I’ve been working through, but I am feeling pretty good again, and ready to bust out some speed work.
Last Week’s Training
Wednesday: 5 miles (2 with alone and 3 with running group)
This was a pretty chill and uneventful run. I took it slow and just ran by feel (kept a 9:00 min/mi pace). It was nice to get out and move my legs a little after a week off, and I was happy to be back after some lower back pain.
Thursday: THE DAY I SAW THE OTTER!! (3.5 mile easy run)
I wrote all about this last week… but I saw an otter. It was adorable and totally made my day.
Saturday: 6 mile trail run
I went to a state park just south of town with a bunch of my friends and we hiked for about 7 miles. I wanted to get a run in, and since Hospital Hill has hills (and South Bend does not), I decided a little trail action would be nice to acclimate my legs to rolling terrain. After our hike, I went out and ran 6 miles through the beautiful trails of Potato Creek State Park. I had forgotten my ankle brace, but decided to run without it. This was the first time I’ve run on trail without the brace since the injury two years ago!
Sunday: 12 mile bike ride
I didn’t feel like running a long run (I had an 8 miler planned), since my legs were tired from all the running and hiking the day before. I instead decided to go out for a ride along some of the trails along the St. Joe River. Frank came along and it was pretty awesome.
Total Milage: 14.5 <-haha!
Well, it has been nice to be rather low on the milage and just run easy, but I’ve been pretty eager to get back to a regular schedule and add some hills and speed work. I am going to write up a separate post about my goals for Hospital Hill, but they are pretty BIG. I guess I better get to it!
This week looks something like this:
M: Rest
T: 10 min warm up + 20 min HMP + 10 min fast finish & Yoga
W: 35 min foundation run & Yoga
T: 15 warm up + 8 x hill + 10 cool down & yoga & Yoga
F: 40 min foundation run & Go pick my mom up! (She’s in town this weekend!!)
S: Hike + rest
S: 9 mile long run
Do you like to go trail running? Any exciting plans for the weekend?
She Runs the Wasatch 
There are a lot of great cross activities you can do that will also prepare you for running hills: strength training in your quads, glutes, and hammies, biking, hiking trails and my personal favorite – STAIRS! I love doing stair repeats, it’s a killer workout that can be done whenever you have a spare 15-20 mins. And you will feel the burn and break a sweat!!
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I do a lot of biking, hiking and yoga. I do want to do some stairs though. There is a big library on ND’s campus that I can use until the move.
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Totally agree with Hanna.. Stairs are an awesome workout and I can really tell a difference when I incorporate them into my training regularly. Good for the glutes!!
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Yeah! I’ve been telling myself I am going to do stairs, but they are so terrible that I always put it off. lol
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I friggin love trail running…it’s kind of Jesse and my favorite activity.
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I see all of your posts! I love it too. After I move to KS, I’m planning some pretty epic trail running adventures in Boulder and Rocky Mountain. How’s your leg? Do you think you’ll be hitting the trails again any time soon?
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I would LOVE to run in Colorado; I’ve never been, When’s your move? My leg (Taylor) is feeling great – I think my IT band syndrome is almost gone. I ran on the trails in the Presidio last month on my birthday; it was fantastic. Jesse’s foot will hopefully be healed completely soon – and we’ll be taking epic shots of the Golden Gate Bridge from Marin again. 🙂
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Awe man, I hate ITBS. I had a bad case of it last fall. I hope it never comes back… I move on May 8, and my first trip to Boulder will be memorial day! I can’t wait to hit up some mountain trails and test my lungs on the elevation. I’m glad to hear that you are both on the mend. Good luck with your (and Jesse’s) healing. 🙂
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That sounds like a wonderful week! Especially that bike ride. It’s nice to take it easy ever so often but I know just what you mean about being anxious to get back to it! I’m right there with you!
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Yeah, I’m super glad to be training again. It’s fun to care about my paces and work a little harder. I love how fast improvement happens when you work hard.
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