After giving myself a week to recover after running Ragnar DC, I eased back into running last week as I faced my last three weeks of training for the Hokie Half Marathon.

Monday
I took Monday off from all workouts.

Tuesday
I ran my first set of twelve hill repeats (excluding my Ragnar DC legs) in several weeks on Tuesday.  I met two of my MRTT friends for a total of 6.5 miles (9:52 pace).  We ran a two mile warm-up and then tackled most of those hills in the dark.

GlowingShoeLaces

I rushed home from my workout to meet one of my clients for a 3.15 run/walk.  We maintained a 14:20 pace with what seemed like a pretty decent running pace.  I’m starting to question the accuracy of my RunKeeper app on our twisty trail, because we seemed to be running faster and longer than usual, yet our pace was slower.  Perhaps I’m questioning the accuracy as I convince myself that I finally need to break down and buy a Garmin!

Wednesday
I gave myself Wednesday off from working out or running as well!

Thursday
I woke up to rain on Thursday morning at 4:30 AM, and after a quick text back and forth with my running friends, I went back to bed and slept for three more hours!  Since neither of them were planning to be out, I decided I didn’t want to run at 5:30 in the rain alone.  Later in the afternoon I ran six miles at a 9:51 pace.  My right hip felt tight the last half of the run, so I came home and rolled it.  In the process, I aggravated the left side of my lower back with the odd way I had to twist my torso to hold my body up as I targeted my tight hip with the roller.  Oy!

Friday
After planning to go on a long run on Friday morning, I skipped it after waking up repeatedly overnight with that darn sciatic nerve pain.  The morning was gorgeous as the sun tried to burn through the fog, and I longingly wished I had been able to bring up the sun while on a run.  Once up, and moving around the back pain subsided and lessened as the day went on.

BackYardFoggyMorningSun

Saturday
Bill and I debated on running Saturday morning, but since it was Virginia Tech’s homecoming, and we wanted to get our tailgate set up early for our 12:30 PM game, we decided to move our run to Sunday.  My back was feeling better, but I’m sure the extra day of letting it rest was a good thing.  So instead of running, I ate mass quantities of crappy, delicious food.

HappyHomecomingBanner

Sunday
Bill and I headed out for a six-mile run on the Huckleberry Trail on Sunday morning, and ended up running ten miles very strong!  We ran negative splits, and maintained an 8:52 average pace.  We came back to our hotel from that run so pumped, that we declared it the best part of our weekend!

  • Mile 1 – 9:35
  • Mile 2 – 9:26
  • Mile 3 – 8:42
  • Mile 4 – 9:00
  • Mile 5 – 9:10
  • Mile 6 – 8:54
  • Mile 7 – 8:38
  • Mile 8 – 8:21
  • Mile 9 – 8:33
  • Mile 10 – 8:28
HuckleberryTrailInFog

Huckleberry Trail – Blacksburg, VA

We started in Christiansburg and ran toward Blacksburg for five miles, and turned around for an out-and-back loop.  Five miles of our Hokie Half Marathon will be along that section of the trail, and it was great to run along it as a refresher leading up to the race.

HuckleberryTrailElevationChart

It felt good to get three solid runs in this week, but I wish I could have gotten at least one more.  The problem with heading to Blacksburg so often is that it interferes with Bill’s and my running…  Choosing between Virginia Tech football and running is a mighty hard choice!

 

Total weekly workouts:
Running – 22.5 miles
Run/walk – 3.15 miles
Walking – 2 miles
Lifting – 0 hours

 

  • Questions:
  • How many days do you take off from working out each week?
  • Where’s your favorite running trail?
  • Who raced this weekend?