Weekly Recap: Trucker Hats from Mill City, Deck Removal, and Marathon Training.

Fall is here, but it doesn’t feel like it in Minneapolis. We have had above-average temperatures all week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather changes before the Twin Cities Marathon this Sunday!

Last week’s 70 miles was intense, so I was happy to have a bit less mileage this week. Here’s how it all worked out:

Monday: 7 miles in the morning with a two run club friends (one of whom ran the Berlin Marathon yesterday- congrats Christie!) and then another 5 miles in the evening (definitely listened to music on this second run) 12 miles on the day.

Tuesday: I didn’t have anyone to run with this morning, so I brought Matilda along even though I was doing a longer one that included a workout. I had 2 miles to warmup and 6×1200 repeats at a 7:38 pace with a minute recovery in between and 2 miles to cool-down. 9 miles total. That’s kind of a lot for a morning run, especially a morning run for Matilda!

But I suppose she had the rest of the day just to lay around and recover.

Not me! Had to rush to work for a busy day.  That evening, I met a friend for a barre class at The Barre. It had been FOREVER and I missed it so much! I love The Barre. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner across the street at Agra Culture.  A healthy option for a post-workout meal.

Wednesday: 7 miles easy in the morning with a few run club friends. I was tired and crabby and not feeling the run, but like always, I felt a million times better afterwards. 

Thursday: 8 miles in the morning with my friend Lindsey in the pouring rain. I wasn’t feeling quite right- on the return from dropping her off (she only had 5 to do) I got super light-headed and had to stop for a minute. I think I must have not hydrated enough the evening before or morning of as I felt fine the rest of the day.  I never eat anything before running in the morning, so it wasn’t that I wasn’t fueled. I’ll definitely monitor to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

I ran another 4 after work with Matilda the vizsla for 12 on the day. Then I met up with a bunch of run club friends for a goodbye get-together at Black Sheep for my friend Carla who is moving to Denver. She will be missed!

Friday: Easy 5 miles after work. I listened to Girl Talk– I don’t frequently listen to music, but when I run after work, its still light out, so I feel safe with headphones. The music really helped.

Saturday: 15 miles. A cutback in distance from last week’s 20 miles, but it included 10 miles in the middle at goal marathon pace. It worked perfectly that I had a running partner with the same plan (she’s running the Chicago marathon) and we hit my goal paces with flying colors. Huge confidence booster!

That afternoon, we took apart our deck. We are finally starting our house project and we were able to save some money by tearing down the deck ourselves. I’ll call it cross-training…
Sunday: Rest day from running. I joined my friend Monica for Arms & Abs at [solidcore]. Awesome class as always! I am feeling it today.

I was running some errands later that afternoon and stopped by Mill City Running for a few items- such as this trucker hat! I swear, when we were in Colorado for the Imogene Pass Run, ALL the mountain girls were wearing trucker hats. I figured if I want to pretend to be a mountain girl/trail runner, I need a trucker hat right?

Mill City Running seriously has some really cute gear right now; go there if you can!
Total:  About 60 miles. A lot less than last week’s 70 miles, but one tough tempo workout and a “workout” within the long run. Less mileage but still a serious week of training! I also fit in one Barre class and one [solidcore] class which felt AMAZING. I definitely miss the strength training.

Did you guys check out the lunar eclipse last night? We walked my new trucker hat down to the lake to watch it all unfold. It seemed like our whole neighborhood was there too.

Matilda was not impressed.

The pictures never turn out quite as well as expected, even with our “good” camera. This little meme says it best!

Well, that’s it for my weekly recap. The next two weeks of training will be lower mileage than last week’s 70. Then my coach will have me do one final push before the taper. Richmond is only 6 weeks away!

Good luck to the Twin Cities Marathon runners this Sunday!