The above picture is from a morning run this week…The sun is starting to come out earlier! Spring is on its way 🙂 With spring comes the Boston Marathon. Only 8 weeks to go!
When I look forward on my Final Surge schedule, it’s a little intimidating.
So. Much. Running.
I just have to take it one day/one workout at a time. In terms of tune-up races, I am doing the Hot Dash 10 miler on March 18th and the O’Gara’s Irish Run 8k on March 25th. I haven’t raced a 10 mile in years; I’m excited! The 8k is the first race of my run club’s USATF race circuit.
So, of course, I’m here as usual with my weekly recap and I’m linking up with Jess from Jess Runs ATL. Join us! Details at the bottom of this post.
Monday: 8 easy miles in the morning with my friends Christie and Julie, 9:10 average. 1 hour barre class at the barre after work.
Tuesday: Valentine’s Day! I had a 7 am meeting at work, so no time to squeeze in the longer workout I had ahead of time. (I showed my holiday spirit with pink pants!)
Instead, I had to do my run in the evening. Dustin offered to run with me for Valentine’s day :), which was great as I had 8 miles at a 7:40 pace (with 1 mile to warm-up and 1 mile to cool-down.) 7:40 is around his easy/recovery pace, so it worked well.
He kept me on track for most of the miles though I was really working for it. It seems that I panic a bit in the beginning of a longer workout like that because it seems so daunting and I get in my head that there’s no way I can keep it up for EIGHT miles, but then I eventually settle into the pace and then there’s only a few miles left and I can talk myself into it sticking with it.
10 miles total at an 8:03 min/mile average. After the run, we made a Hello Fresh meal together. It was a lovely Valentine’s Day celebrating the way we know best. Running and eating 🙂
Wednesday: 8.5 recovery miles before work with Christie and Julie again. I could tell I was pretty sore/tired from the longer tempo. 9:05 min/mile average. Another 5 miles after work- it was warm, but I wasn’t feeling a dark run on my own, so I decided to just hop on the treadmill and zone out to “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” on Netflix. 9:13 min/mile average. 13.5 miles on the day.
Thursday: I had another double on my schedule, but I was tired and slept in instead, which of course meant no time for a double. Instead I did the short hill repeats on the schedule after work: 2 mile warm-up, 8x300m sprints (at 80% max) with recovery the length of the hill, 2 mile cool-down. 7.25 miles at a 9 min/mile average.
I had my regular call with my coach that day and he said it was up to me if I made up the 4 additional recovery miles on Friday or used Friday as my scheduled rest day.
Friday: Great news! Tilda’s foot has recovered and she was pretty energetic and rearing to go, so I decided to do the 4 recovery miles I missed the day before with her. It was so great to have my furry running companion back! 4 miles at a 9 min/mile average.
Saturday: My second 20 mile long run of the Boston training schedule. The plan called for 16 miles easy and the last 4 at a harder effort. They ended up being around 8 min/miles which wasn’t quite as fast as I had hoped. But overall still a great run- it was sunny and in the 50’s! So amazing. When we started the run, it was upper 30’s; I had a vest and a long sleeve. By the time we ran to the Calhoun Beach Club (Dustin and I both had a run scheduled that was a bit longer than the run club’s planned route, so we ran from home) I had to shed the vest. Midway through the run, I even shed the long sleeve.
I couldn’t believe I was running in shorts and a tank in February in Minnesota! Granted, I run “hot” so to speak, but it felt so amazing. 20 miles at an 8:50 min/mile average.
That afternoon I got a sports massage with Gregg Sivesind at Fit Studios in St. Louis Park. Only $65 for an hour; my coach recommended this guy, as he works closely with the University of Minnesota track team (where my coach used to run). I felt great afterwards and plan to see him again in a few weeks.
Sunday: Another gorgeous day in Minneapolis! I think we actually reached 60 degrees today. Unbelievable. I had a double run on the schedule- the first 8 I ran with Dustin and Matilda at an 8:45 min/mile average and the second 4 I did with Dustin again (yay!)
Summary: 1 barre class and 75 miles of running. I didn’t do as great as I had hoped with fitting in cross training, but I did get a sports massage, so that’s something, right? There’s just not enough time in the day, especially when working 50 or so hours a week…I tried my best!
Great week!!! I love getting sports massages, they make such a difference!
It’s been very warm here too. We really didn’t get much of a winter!
So lucky Jess! I’m ready for warm. Bring on spring please 🙂 The past few days have been such a teaser, but we are supposed to get snow again this weekend.
I’m a new-found convert to sports massages 🙂
Looks like an amazing week! It’s been really warm in Colorado too, it’s crazy. Great job getting everything in and working so much =)
I heard that it was close to 80 in Denver- unbelievable!
Yes..if only I didn’t have my real job, I would have a lot more time to cross train/yoga/strength, etc. 🙂 Jk.
Great week! You are amazing. So glad Tilda is feeling better! I’ve been wondering what your threshold temperature for shorts is?? I feel like I run “cold” so it has to be pretty warm before I’ll go down to shorts!
Thank you Katie! Yes, Tilda is back to her normal active lifestyle. So, I’ll wear shorts with compression socks in the low 40’s if there’s no wind and there’s sun. Sometimes 40’s can feel really cold though, so it depends. Saturday was sunny and no wind and we started in the 30’s, got up to the 50’s. Shorts/compression socks are basically the same amount of bare skin as capris I feel like, so generally my legs feel fine, even if I’m still wearing gloves. I do heat up quite a bit when running compared to a lot of people though,… Read more »
I haven’t commented in a while but I swear I’m still a loyal reader 🙂 I’m easing back into marathon training myself (signed up for Twin Cities in October!) so I’ve been reading back to a few of your “fashion fits” posts lately as I stock up some new gear. I can’t believe Boston is just 8 weeks out – I’m so excited for you and glad that you’ve had some warm weekend weather for those long runs!
Hi Rita! Glad to hear you are still reading 🙂
Exciting that you are doing Twin Cities!!! Does that mean you are done with residency?? Or are squeezing it all in?
Congrats on a great week! I can’t wait for the warmer weather to finally hit–running in shorts feels like a dream 🙂
Haha, exactly! It’s not a common occurrence in February in Minnesota, that’s for sure, but I definitely wasn’t complaining 🙂
What a beautiful; picture at the top!
We had unexpectedly mild weather here on Sunday. The shorts came out and I wore a long sleeved top but was wishing I’d gone for a lighter one or a short sleeve!
It’s amazing how quickly one heats up when running…like they say, “It’s only cold if you’re standing still :)” Glad you had a mild run as well!
Cute pink pants!!!! And so close to Boston Marathon!!! Wow time does fly. Great job on fitting in a ton of mIles!
Thank you Eri and I just saw you found me on Strava! I’m excited to follow your training too 🙂
Yes! I’m not quite familiar with the techy stuff so bear with me! I tried linking up but I guess I was too late! It’s still morning in HI so i thought I was still okay. Maybe next week
Can I ask a non-running question? What color are your Tieks in the picture with your pink pants? 🙂 I’m about to invest in my first pair and want a neutral color. Thinking Taupe, Chestnut, or Feather Grey.
Thanks – love reading your blog!
Of course! I love my Tiek’s. Those are camel. I also have chocolate, but taupe, chestnut, or grey would be great choices!
Thanks for reading!