Enjoying The Outdoors (July 21 – 27)

As I’m gearing up for three big fall races, I’ve bumped up my training, and in doing so, I’m enjoying being outdoors as much as possible.

Monday
I stuck with my promise to myself and lifted weights on Monday morning early before my first client arrived.  I was also able to sneak in a 4.65 mile walk at a 14:21 pace in the middle of the day.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning started bright and early when I met one of my friends for a two mile warm-up prior to our hill repeats.  This doesn’t make sense to beginning or non-runners, but to an experienced runner it makes all kinds of sense.  An easy warm-up gets the heart pumping, blood flowing, and muscles warmed up, making it easier for the body to move through the rigorous workout you’re about to do.

After our warmup we met our MRTT friends for our hill repeats. I ran a total of 8 miles, including 12 hills.  My total run lasted 1:15:37 (9:27 pace).

Once I got home, I  ran/walked 2 miles with a client 27:51 (13:46 pace).  If you remember last week her pace was 16:39, so I was thrilled with her improvement.  Her runs stayed the same pace, but with a lot of encouragement I got her walk pace must faster.

Wednesday
Again on Wednesday, I managed to get up and  lift weights first thing in the morning before I got busy.  That’s becoming the only way I can get it done, which is unusual for me.

Later in the day I went for a hot and humid 4-mile walk at a 15:09 pace.  The blue sky was a complete contradiction to the temperature.

Thursday
Sadly on Thursday, our MRTT group ran with our friend Mary for the last time before she moves to Colorado.  We’re thinking road trip to Colorado for a relay next summer!  I did a 3-mile temp run in the middle of our 6-mile run (8:25 overall pace).

Once home, I ran/walked 2.66 miles with my client, and we finished in 38:55 (14:38 pace).

Thursday night we blew out our hair, put on makeup, and nice clothes (no ponytails and running clothes allowed), and met at a local restaurant to properly say goodbye to Mary.  It happens to be the same restaurant pictured above where we park on Tuesday mornings when we run hills.

I ordered the petite filet, and it was really good.  I was very disappointed because I’m pretty sure the grilled corn was canned and not fresh…  Perhaps not, but it sure tasted like canned.

And since Erin’s ravioli salad looked both beautiful and delicious, I had to take a picture of it!

In addition to the ambiance, this restaurant gets bonus points for leaving a pitcher of water at each table.

Friday
Some days it happens, and Friday was one of them.  It was a total rest day… no weights, no running, no lifting, and even no stretching.

Saturday
One of our MRTT chapter leaders is moving away, so we had a goodbye breakfast for her after our run on Saturday morning.  I ran 12 miles in 1:55:45 (9:38 pace).  Our run was a little different than usual in that we met after our run.  Our goal was to start our individual runs at whatever time would have us finish our planned mileage at 8 AM.

Chapter leaders Erin, Amanda, and Elizabeth

Later on Saturday I decided to go on a second run in preparation for Ragnar, but quickly realized I was too tired after my longer morning run.  I ended up walking 3.4 miles at a 17:56 pace.

Sunday
I rarely miss an opportunity to run with my BRF, so when Susan texted to see if I could go for a run, I didn’t hesitate.  We ran 5.5 miles on our favorite trail at a 10:36 pace, which was a great recovery pace for me after my busy week of running.

Total weekly workouts:
Running – 29.5 miles
Run/walk – 4.66 miles
Walking – 12.05 miles
Lifting – 2 hours

• Questions:
• How was your workout week?
• Who raced this weekend?
• When is your next race?