Monday--AM: This was the first run of my new training plan. My MIT gals decided it had been wayyyyy too long since we ran together, so we converged at Steph's house for our favorite loopy-route in her 'hood. It was so awesome to run with them again! I realized the night before that I actually had 6 miles on my schedule, so I woke up early and did a quick out-and-back mile in my own 'hood before heading over to Steph's. Overall pace: 10:03 (my first solo mile was a 9:30 so the 5 with the girls were definitely nice and easy!).
PM: 45 minutes of strength training at home. Really paying attention to my glutes and hips right now. Copied from my dailymile post: "Started out with 15 minutes of glute & calf strengthening exercises. Followed this with a new routine that I found in Runner's World to help build strength especially in the hips:http://www.runnersworld.com/exercise/get-strong-stay-healthy (did each exercise--2 sets of 10). Finished with twice through 50 squats, a 2:00 plank, 2x20 bicep curls and 2x20 pulses. Oh and tacked on 2x20 push-ups at the end. Not a bad home workout :)"
Tuesday--I am still not starting any speed work as far as running goes, so I decided to get my sweat on while on the bike. 5 min warmup followed by 7 x (3 min hard, 2 min recovery), 5 min cool down. I was soaked after this short ride!
Wednesday--The forecast for this morning called for storms, so I was very happy to actually get to be able to meet up with Meggie and Allison for 7 miles in New Albany. The rain was annoying for the first couple of miles, then it settled down to a light sprinkle. Avoiding the puddles was pretty much impossible, though, so wet socks were a given! Overall pace: 9:21. All miles were between 9:15-9:27 (yay for following my coach's advice!).
Thursday--AM: The monthly Westerville donut runs typically are on Tuesdays (a non-run day for me), but I lucked out when the group decided to run on Thursday this month. Nice and easy 4 miles with several friends including both Allisons, Tamara, Meggie, Megan and Sharon. Overall pace: 9:51 (first mile was almost 11 minutes, due to congestion on the sidewalk with the other runners, but all miles were above 9:30).
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| Great turnout! |
PM: Repeat of Tuesday's workout, but spent the whole time on strength training--added in some new calf strengthening exercises using a resistance band. I'm pretty damn determined to get my hips, glutes and calves as strong as I can!
Friday--Ah, rest day. Sweet rest day... I love them, mostly because I get to sleep in until 5:25 AM! I am up by 4:20 AM at the latest Monday through Thursday, so it's super nice being able get that extra hour on Fridays.
Saturday--First 14 miler since my minor calf strain/pull 4 weeks ago. I have to admit, I was concerned about this run, for a few reasons. 1) My medial gastrocnemius felt tight on Thursday night and all day yesterday. This isn't the muscle I injured, and I was confused as to why it felt so tight. Lots of self-massage (and hubby-massage), rolling, gentle stretching, etc. definitely helped. I need to stretch my calves a few times a day--gotta work that in. 2) I need to slow down, but my running partners all run faster (well, the pace I used to run). I was worried that, even though they said they would go slower, it just wouldn't be slow enough. Plus, it can be hard to slow down when your body says to go faster. 3) I had to stop my 12 miles short last week due to my calf feeling tight, and I was worried I might have to do the same this week. I hate stopping runs but I was prepared to do so if needed. Fortunately, things went pretty darn perfect. My legs held up just fine. My friends stuck by my side just as they said they would. And I was able to hold a respectable 9:26 overall pace for the run. Two of the miles were under 9:15 (mile 2 was 9:13, mile 11 was 9:14), but most were 9:20-9:30 pace. I felt relaxed the entire time. At my coach's recommendation, I did a total of 6 "pick-ups" (every 2 miles), where I would run a bit faster for 30 seconds to change up things a bit. Then I would slow down and my friends would eventually catch back up to me.
Sunday--I had grandiose visions of getting in a bike, swim AND a strength workout today. Ummm.... yeah, that wasn't going to happen with my normal Sunday activities. I ended up with a 30 minute strength workout and an hour on the bike. The bike ride was a steady-state ride: 5 minute warmup followed by 50 minutes in the gear 7. I attempted to keep my cadence between 86-88 for the entire ride. Ended with a 5 minute cooldown.
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