Twelve weeks until the Richmond Marathon! There are also only SIX weeks until the Twin Cities Marathon, which I know a lot of you will be running. How is YOUR training going? Are you excited? Please let me know if you are running TCM in the comments so I know to look for you!
Here’s how my training is going…at least how it went last week!
Monday: No running, Arms & Abs class at [solidcore] with my friend Monica
Tuesday: I went to the Calhoun Beach Running Club. I had a longer workout on my schedule and couldn’t fit it in the morning. The workout was “15-10-10-5:” 2 mile warmup, 15 minutes at a 7:40 pace, 5 minute jog/recovery, 10 minutes at a 7:20 pace, 5 minute jog, 10 minutes at a 7:20 pace, 5 minute jog, 5 minutes “as fast as you have left”, 2 mile cool-down. This was TOUGH workout for me. Those 10 minute intervals at a 7:20 pace were more like 7:30-7:40. Really challenging workout…and long! I ended up with 10 miles total.
Wednesday: Easy 8 mile recovery run with a few run club girls in the morning. After work, I was supposed to meet a friend at a free yoga class on the rooftop of the Galleria parking ramp in Edina, but the weather took a crazy turn for the cold and rainy, so the class was cancelled. I embraced the unexpected free time and did a lot of baking instead. 🙂 Yoga is good for you mentally…so is baking, right?
Thursday: Short hill repeats: 2 mile warm-up, then 20 repeats on a short hill with a 5% grade, 2 mile cool-down. I did these repeats on a hill by Lake Harriet where the trolley starts. I was running up and down that hill it felt like forever, and apparently one of the residents must have felt bad for me. On my 19th repeat, he came out of his house and handed me a Smart Water! It was a really kind gesture. I actually dropped off a thank- you card the next day. It’s the little things! 8 miles total.
Friday: Complete rest! I thought about squeezing in some yoga, but instead took my senior cat in for a haircut. He’s 14 years old and has arthritis, so he wasn’t cleaning his fur as well as he normally would. I had read that a summer shave was a good idea for a senior cat with this problem.
Well, the process was pretty traumatic for him, so instead of squeezing in a yoga class, I went home after work to give him some extra snuggles. Poor old man!
He actually seems much happier now with the lion cut.
I know that plenty of people out there are not cat people. Hopefully a few cat pictures here won’t stop you from coming back! I consider myself an animal lover- all animals. Even cats! I adopted my cat when I was a sophomore in college because I wanted a pet so badly and cats were much easier than dogs for a single college girl. He’s been my little buddy for many, many years.
Okay, no more cats. Back to running!
Saturday: 17 mile long run with the Calhoun Beach Running Club. It wasn’t quite as hot or humid as it had been earlier in the week. Even so, my legs felt pretty tired and I was happy we kept this run around a 9 min/mile. I could not have gone any faster!
Sunday: I met my friend Christie for 5 easy recovery miles near the [solidcore] studio in St. Louis Park and then we took the 9 am Arms & Abs class. As I mentioned in this post, I find this class a lot easier to fit in with all the running. And who doesn’t want more toned arms & abs, right?
Summary: 48 miles, 2 Arms & Abs classes at [solidcore].
It was sort of a cutback week in mileage compared to last week’s 60 miles. There were still some hard workouts, but two non-running days gave my body more time to recover from a big week last week.
This week will actually be a bit of taper too for the Women Rock 1/2 Marathon that I’m running on Saturday. Fingers crossed this cool weather sticks around until then!
So nice that someone gave you water. And good for you for writing a thank you. I’m convinced that if everyone did more things like that the world would be a much better place.
Me too! It wasn’t a big gesture for him, but it felt like a big gesture to me. 🙂