Week 6 of Spring Training

Monday I didn't have to go in to work until 6pm because I was scheduled to work both Saturday and Sunday (#weekendbrarian, whoop!). It was sunny and almost 20 degrees so you'd better believe I was heading outside for my recovery run. Due to some new information from one of my friends, I learned that the terrible turkey has been relocated because he was chasing so many people. YIPPEE! Unfortunately that bit of news was accompanied with a snapchat video that showed three turkeys crossing the parking lot. Hmm.... I decided to take my chances.

Oh how I missed my little recovery run route, turkey free! I even got in some miles on the gravel. That counts as trail running right??  jk.

Wednesday I hit the treadmill for mile repeats. Eek. Mile repeats have always been my least favorite and most stressed about workout. ALWAYS. I was actually pretty excited about them, however, because running has been going pretty well, my body has been holding up (everyone knock on wood along with me, please!), and I wanted to see how they would go.

I did a mile warm up, than 3x1 mile repeats with an 800 jogging recovery in between them, followed by a one mile cool down. There was a guy on the treadmill next to me, and when he was done I thanked him for keeping me company. It almost felt like I had a running buddy! The intervals were hard, and I was definitely counting down the last two minutes of each one but I was able to run strong and keep proper form throughout which is a major win for me. Interesting fun fact: I almost ALWAYS count down from 120 with speedwork and in races. Two minutes seems like a really long time, but 120 seconds seems like NBD. Also, I count along with the cadence of my feet and breathing, so it's actually slower than a second and I'm done long before I hit zero. This is weird, I realize. I'm ok with that.

Pouring sweat? Check.

Bright red mug? Check.

Full on swass? You bet (and you're welcome for no photo #proof)

After logging my run, I went back through my log to see when the last time I ran that fast was. I had to go all the way back to January 2013 to see mile repeats at similar paces. 13 months! Getting back there.

Friday was my scheduled long run. Due to working Saturday and Sunday and Friday being the "warm" day of the week (high of 12), that was the plan. Unfortunately that means that my long run buddy Jenn, was working.

I sent this text to Kyle at 10am when it was -5 and -16 which chill. Come on winter, get yo act together!

Somehow I laid on the couch all day and finally threw the towel in on my LR when I realized I was starving and needed some food. Of course, as soon as I stepped outside to go grab some food, I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as the forecast was projecting. #fail

Saturday night after work it was a balmy +10 because of the snow fall we got. Thanks snow for bringing the temps in to the bearable range! On my drive home I noticed that a few sidewalks were cleared on a hill repeat spot I've been wanting to try (once the threat of turkey chases disappeared). Of course by the time I got out there, I realized that it was 95% covered in a thick sheet of ice. Luckily it's a fairly low traffic area with two lanes, so I was able to hop on the road to complete my repeats. I did a 1 mile warm up, followed by 6x800m hill repeats, and a quarter of a mile rest/recovery in between. I walked for about a minute and jogged the rest of the recovery. Then I ran home. This is the strongest I've felt on a speed work session! My hill repeat averaged to 4:10, or 8:20 pace.

Since I didn't do my LR, I tried to push two runs fairly back to back to at least try to simulate the time on my feet. Sunday morning I hopped on the treadmill for a 4 mile recovery run. I wanted to go another mile longer, but I had to get ready for work. Womp.