It’s hard to believe that I just completed the 4th week of my 16-week Run Less Run Faster (affiliate link) training cycle for my OBX Half Marathon girls’ weekend getaway to celebrate my big birthday!

Our week started with a 40-mile bike ride on Sunday, this time with our Cruiser friend, Joe. We’re signing them up – Cruisers who no longer just run and are looking to start cross-training on their bikes – one by one…

 

Since Joe was on a time schedule he turned to ride home, while Bill and I rode on to the end of the W&OD Trail. In keeping with the Virginia is for Lovers theme, there’s a LOVE sign touting Loudoun County’s vineyards. You can’t tell from the picture, but the L is made out of corks.

 

With my first client appointment starting at 7:30 on Tuesday mornings, I’ve had to adjust my track workout start time. My friends arrive at 5:30, but I really need to be warmed up and starting my first repeat by then, so on Tuesday Bill rode his bike alongside me as I ran to the track (this picture says it all about how I feel about him being so sweet and looking out for me). We switched over to one of the local high school tracks after last week’s goose poop debacle and a friend mentioned that one of the gates was indeed open around back at that particular high school track.   

 

On my training plan for the day was 5 x 1000 with 400 meter recoveries, preceded and followed with a 1-mile warm-up and cool-down. My goal pace for the repeats was 7:30 and I completed them at 7:20, 7:25, 7:30,7:27, and 7:23 average paces – it must have been the delightful track surface and lack of goose poop that made me hit my paces. Since it was a little longer getting to the track than I anticipated (2 miles versus 1), I cut my recoveries back to 200 meters and then rested a minute while grabbing a drink of water.

If you notice in the picture below, my tank is on all crooked and twisted because I’d just put it back on. I ran on the track in just my jog bra, something I haven’t done in ten years, but put it back on before I ran home. I felt great after my workout and got home with just enough time to change into dry clothes and get to my first client on time.

 

My client load has increased significantly lately and I see my first person at 6:30 on Thursday mornings and go straight through until noon. So for my Thursday morning tempo run I had two choices, go on my tempo run Wednesday morning only 24 hours after Tuesday’s track repeats or go Thursday afternoon in the heat of the day. I chose Wednesday morning.

My plan called for 5 miles total with a 1-mile easy warm-up, 3 miles at tempo pace of 8:13, and a 1-mile easy cool-down. Even though I wasn’t running in the heat, it was very humid and my legs were still tired, so I struggled hitting my paces, running them at 8:39, 8:15, and 8:46.

 

I completely mixed things up yesterday and ran my next week’s track workout on Saturday, saving my long run for today, hoping to meet a friend. Meeting my friend didn’t workout out for a few different reasons, but mainly because she’s running her long runs at a 9:30 pace and my target pace is 11:00, though I’m hitting my long run pace closer to 10:30. Anyway, I headed out yesterday at low tide leaving the house at 10:30 AM in the heat and humidity, and with no shade… My plan called for 3 x 1600 meter repeats with a 1-mile warm-up and a 1-mile cool-down. My goal pace for my repeats was a 7:40, but I hit them at 8:04, 7:54, and 8:24. I know the sand, heat, and humidity affected my performance so I’m not beating myself up over it.

 

Even though I mixed things up toward the end of the week, I’d say it was a pretty good week of training. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and adjust accordingly…

Looking ahead to this coming week on the blog, I’m sure I’ll find time to post about running on the beach at least once this week, especially if I run the Lighthouse 5K on Wednesday. I already have my Runfessions linkup with Marcia ready to post on Thursday evening so stay tuned for that. 

In case you missed it, this past week I posted the following articles:

 

In addition to the runs I mentioned above, here’s a run-down of other workouts I completed this past week…

 

Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included: 

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • Do you workout while on vacation?
  • Have you ever run on the beach? 
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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I’m also linking up with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC for her Training Recap linkup. Be sure to check out how Courtney the other great bloggers joining the linkup are doing on their fall marathon and half marathon training.