Weekly Recap: 7 Weeks Until the Richmond Marathon

I’m behind on my weekly recaps! I know that these recap posts aren’t my most popular type of posts, but personally I enjoy writing them. I like reflecting back on my training each week and documenting it all down here. So stick with me please 🙂

September 7-13:
Monday: Labor Day! We were at the cabin, so Dustin joined me for my tempo run. I had 2 miles to warm-up, then 6 miles at a tempo pace of 7:45, then 2 miles to cool-down. Dustin kept me right on pace, which was really hard to do on the hilly roads at the cabin. It felt so great to have a workout where I actually hit the paces exactly as much coach prescribed. 10 miles total. After returning to Minneapolis, I did 4 more easy miles (SUPER slow) for 14 on the day.

Tuesday: Complete rest! After the big double run the day before, this rest day was very welcome.

Wednesday: 8 miles with my friend Lindsey before work and 5 more miles with her again after work! We had to laugh that not many people have a friend who will run TWICE in one day together. A great friend to have.

Thursday: Short 100m sprints. 2 mile warmup, 10x100m sprints, 2 mile cool down for 5.5 miles today. That afternoon we flew to Telluride, CO.

Friday: 4 mile run in Telluride at altitude of 8,000 feet.

Saturday: The glorious Imogene Pass Run!
Sunday: A very sore 4.5 mile jog in Telluride.

Total: About 58 miles

September 14-19
Monday:  Rest day! Legs were still quite sore from the Imogene Pass Run and we were traveling back to Minneapolis most of the day.
 
Tuesday: 7.5 mile easy run in the AM, 4 easy miles in the PM for 11.5 miles on the day

Wednesday: Tempo workout- my coach said this workout was optional depending on how my legs were feeling post-Imogene. They were still a little sore but not terrible, so I gave the workout a shot; it wasn’t a complete failure. 2 mile warm-up, 6x1200m at a 7:40 pace with 1 minute recovery in between, 2 mile cool-down. About 10 miles total. I walked during the 1 minute recovery.

Thursday: I was supposed to meet a friend in the morning, but there was a serious storm going on. Instead, I had to do 5 miles on the treadmill. It had been awhile! It wasn’t so bad; I watched Peaky Blinders on Netflix…anyone else watching this show? I’m only on season one, but I am definitely hooked!

Friday:  7 miles in the AM with my friend Sara from Sweaty Ponytail at Mill City Running‘s Flapjack Friday! Can you believe that sky over Minneapolis on our run? Gorgeous.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any time for flapjacks and had to zip home as fast as I could afterwards to make it to work on time. But it was a fun run with a great group! I had 4 more miles after work with Matilda the vizsla in the rain. I was not feeling that run, but I managed to tough it out for 11 miles on the day.

Saturday: 20 mile long run with the Calhoun Beach Running Club! The weather was absoutely beautiful and I felt pretty good throughout the run. I did, unfortunately, take kind of a rough fall though around mile 10. It’s funny that I ran up and down a mountain last weekend with no injury but a few slippery leaves in Minneapolis left me in rough shape!
That evening, we joined our friends in Stillwater for dinner at LoLo’s (YUM!) and then a little Oktoberfest celebrating at Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter.
Sunday: 7.75 easy miles in the morning and 5 more miles in the rain with Dustin in the evening. 12.75 miles on the day.  

Summary: About 70 miles. Yikes! That’s a big number for me, though almost all of the miles were easy or recovery after Imogene tore up my quads worse than I (and my coach) expected.

Two big weeks of training in the books. Richmond is now 7 weeks away. It’s crazy to think we are only 7 weeks away from the middle of November! Fall will fly by.

One more quick non-sequitur- I received the New Balance catalog and their adorable winter running gear has me kind of excited for cold weather running. This jacket is definitely on my birthday wishlist!