Twin Cities 10 Training Week 4

Week of July 31-August 6

Monday Planned: General Aerobic 4 miles 
Monday Actual: Sigh. Another rest day. I took a yin yoga class that was amazing, and I spent about 15 minutes foam rolling before class. I probably *could've* run after, but I opted for one more day of recovery to be on the safe side.

Tuesday Planned: General Aerobic 8 miles 2 sets 5x150m strides
Tuesday Actual: 3 miles and 30 minutes of yin yoga. We ran 3 miles for the group run, and my right quad was still pretty tired and fatigued feeling. I contemplated running the extra miles after but opted not to. Pretty hopeful it'll be back to normal tomorrow *fingers crossed*.

Wednesday Planned: General Aerobic 3 mile Wednesday Actual: Ugh. My legs hated me. During a downhill portion, my right leg locked up on me and I knew I was better off turning around and heading for home instead of pushing it for 3-4 miles, as was the plan. Womp. I got in two super easy miles, and then spent some time with the rumble roller before yoga class started. 

Thursday Planned: General Aerobic 7 mile 
Thursday Actual: General Aerobic 7 mile. I was really nervous about this run and how my legs would feel. I brought my stick to work and spent all of my breaks working on my quads/it bands. And we were treated with a gorgeous afternoon of 7 miles!






After our run, we met a bunch of our running friends at our favorite local brewery to wish Sally safe travels as she departs on her next adventure. She's such a lovely human/yogi/runner and will be missed dearly!!

Friday Planned: Sanford POWER
Friday Actual: Sanford POWER. I really wanted to do an easy 2-3 miler after POWER to get the fatigue out of my legs, but I didn't have enough time to get ready for work. Womp.

Saturday Planned: Endurance 9 miles
Saturday Actual: Ugh. My legs just weren't having it on this run, and I was way underfueled. I ended up calling it quits and turned around at 1.5 miles for 3.33 for the day.

Sunday Planned: Rest
Sunday Actual: Endurance 9 miles. Whoo! I was nervous my legs were still going to be toast like yesterday. My hamstrings were kind of ouchy before I started, which is something I never deal with, so that was weird. I suspect I was working them extra hard with weird form on Saturday. Extra bonus points for calling it early, I think. Luckily they warmed up within a mile.

The rest of the run was great. Really smooth, fairly even splits, and it was magical being able to run long at 10:30am in August and not melting. I finished and felt like I could've ran for another hour which is a damn good sign for where my fitness is right now. Wahoo!!


Recovery game: so strong. 
Recovery socks AND recovery sandals. Hoka sandals are just as weird looking as Hoka shoes but they feel magical!


Total Mileage Planned: 31 miles

Total Mileage Actual:  24.37 miles

Twin Cities 10 Training Week 3

Week of July 24-30

Monday Planned: General Aerobic 3 mile 
Monday Actual: I convinced Kyle to join me on then bike for an easy 3 mile run. I sucked planning my route and ended up at 3.1 miles and walking the last two blocks home. Hah.

Tuesday Planned: General Aerobic + Speed 8 miles 6x12 sec uphill, 6x100
Tuesday Actual: Toni and I met at 5am to get in 5 miles before the sun. We did our strides and our hill repeats, and my legs felt like garbage. We met up with Ale at the group run for an additional 3 miles.

Wednesday Planned: General Aerobic 3 mile Wednesday Actual: Easy 3 miles at the group run at 605 with Bobby. It was warm, but nothing like it has been lately. After the run we had a yoga session with a glorious legs up the wall.

Thursday Planned: Endurance 11 miles
Thursday Actual: Rest day. I didn't have to go into work until 12:30pm on Friday so I swapped my long run to Friday and took a glorious rest day on Thursday.

Friday Planned: Sanford POWER
Friday Actual: Sanford POWER and 11 endurance miles. It was my first time back at POWER in 3 weeks. Woof. It was awesome and hard, and the sun was gorgeous when we were done.

Toni was sick, so I set out for 11 solo miles. The first 3 miles were a struggle, but I took my first GU around mile 3, found a bathroom, and my legs loosened up dramatically. My left knee felt a little wonky during some of the miles, so I really focused on running tall. My watch was being weird and not telling me mile lap times, so I was pleasantly surprised when I finished to see my time and pace.

Saturday Planned: General Aerobic 3 mile 
Saturday Actual: Rest.
:( I woke up to some super tight IT bands. I attempted to foam roll (3 times), stick, epsom bath, drinking all the water, napping.

Sunday Planned: 8 miles, 4 at LT (605 Series 4 Miles)
Sunday Actual: Rest. Again. My IT bands were still so ridiculously tight that I knew that running would cause my knee to hurt (been there done that). Another rest day, more foam rolling. :(

Total Mileage Planned: 36 miles

Total Mileage Actual:  25.1 miles

Twin Cities 10 Training Week 2

Week of July 17-23

Monday Planned: General Aerobic + Speed 7 miles 6x12 sec uphill, 6x100
Monday Actual: General Aerobic + Speed 7 miles 6x12 sec uphill, 6x100
Toni and I left our houses at 5:15am to meet up and get in our miles before she had to be home to shower and head down south for a training for work. We meet about a mile from our houses, and we both started laughing as soon as we saw each other. Even when we don't plan to dress alike, we do.

There are zero hills in the town we live, so we found the one incline, and used that for our 6 repeats. We did those during the 3rd mile. Miles 5 & 6 included the 100 m strides. It felt awesome to have 7 miles done before 6:30am!

Tuesday Planned: General Aerobic 5 miles 
Tuesday Actual: I lead a group run and 30 minute express yoga class on Tuesdays, so I got there extra early to get in 2 solo miles. I took them very slow and leisurely. The air was so incredibly thick and heavy. I met up with Sarah for the last 3 miles which we also took very slow and leisurely for 5 total miles of recovery.

I didn't work until noon on Tuesday, so after our run, I treated myself to a lavender epsom salt bubble bath with a side of caffeine. I kept having nightmares all night that I slept in and missed leading the run and yoga so I ended up getting up at 4:24am, and was feeling the effects of that anxiety. Uff.

Wednesday Planned:  LT 8 miles, 16 min, 12 min with 4 min jogs in between 
Wednesday Actual: LT 8 miles, 16 min, 12 min with 4 min jogs in between 
I only worked until noon on Wednesday, so the original plan was to do this workout before and during the group run at the running store. Unfortunately, the heat advisory caused us to change our minds. It was a real feel of 105-110, so we met in the morning before work. It was so thick and swampy out. Uff da. The tempo miles were hard, but doable. I wished I had brought my water bottle and maybe a GU. I was tired by the time we were done. **I also got a 2 hour massage...... ahhhhhh.....**

Thursday Planned: Rest 
Thursday Actual: Rest. Since I ran long Saturday and had some recovery miles to make up on Sunday, I yet again had ran 5 days in a row without a break. I had to do my log run Friday, so I knew I needed to take a rest day, plus I was exhausted. So tired.

Friday Planned: Sanford POWER + Endurance 10 miles
Friday Actual: I went to an All American Rejects concert on Thursday night and didn't get home until Midnight. And I drank coffee at 6pm to help me not fall asleep before AAR went on. The adrenaline from the concert plus the caffeine meant that I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 ish. When my alarm went off at 4:45am, I rolled over and went back to bed. The thunderstorms rolled through shortly thereafter, causing my long run to be cancelled too.

Saturday Planned: Rest
Saturday Actual: I had to work on Saturday. After my long run was stormed out on Friday, I briefly considered waking up VERY early to get it in Saturday before work, but another line of storms were projected for the early morning, so it got pushed to Sunday. Which I hate. BUT my BRF who was going to be out of town all weekend, came home in time to run with me on Sunday, making my decision to push the run just a-ok in my book.

Sunday Planned: General Aerobic 3 mile
Sunday Actual: Endurance 10 miles.
Long run with the BRF! It was SO MUCH COOLER than it has been, omg. I don't know how many times we were talking about how beautiful it was out. It was in the mid to high 60s and maybe hit 70 by the time we finished. It felt a little humid when we first started, but it really let up and felt glorious. I had to take a million bathroom stops (or so it felt) but after the last one we picked up the pace just a little bit to finish the last 3 miles strong. Our miles were eerily consistent. Like I couldn't run that consistent if I tried. Creepy. 

Also got in a 60 minute slow candlelight yoga flow followed by 60 minutes of restorative yoga. I've been running #allofthemiles and doing #noneoftheyoga outside of what I've been teaching, and my hips and psoas are in desperate need of some TLC!

Total Mileage Planned: 33 miles

Total Mileage Actual:  33 miles! 2nd highest mileage week of the entire year, and probably the second highest mileage week of the last 2.5 years, if we're being specific, but I'm too lazy to check. :P