Wait, it’s July already? What? We’re now 4 months out from Monumental and we’re starting to take things up a notch.
This week was a little lighter in terms of intensity but still plenty of mileage. Coach has dialed Mondays up to 8 miles starting this week, with the option for 8 on Wednesday. (This is how he sneaks in mileage increases without me noticing.)
So Monday morning was an easy 8, plus drills after. After work I did 2,500 meters on the indoor rower and taught Pilates.
Tuesday was speed day, although I think coach dropped one rep from my workout since I was racing Saturday. The workout was 4×5 minutes at 85-90% followed by 2:30 jogging recovery. 10 miles total, which doesn’t seem like many when the day before was 8!
Wednesday morning was an easy 7 miler plus teaching Pilates after. It was a beautiful 60* out!
Thursday was “moderate” 8 miles plus strides, so a little bit quicker plus turnover, but not enough speed to impact Saturday’s race. I got in drills after that and taught Pilates strength that evening.
Friday was scheduled as 4-6 and I felt good so I went 6 really easy.
Saturday was race day — the 4th Fest 5k, a new one here in town benefiting Active Heroes. I was excited that this race started right by my gym and is actually on the same loop where I ususally do speedwork. I was less excited about the 9 a.m. start time!
I put in a longer warmup — 4 miles — plus some strides. It seemed like it took forever to get the race underway! I only saw one guy I knew, and we ran most of City Run together this spring. My assumption was that I wouldn’t have much competition in the women’s side, and probably not that much on the men’s.
When the race finally started, there were plenty of small children to get around. I had the advantage of knowing the course, so I knew all the turns and was able to run the tangents well. My plan was to run 6:15s, and I nailed it on the first mile. Mile 2 was a little slow, 6:22. Mile 3 was … a mystery. The race ended up being so short that I stopped my watch at 2.94! My average pace for that mile was 6:17, so I was somewhere in the ballpark.
I was 5th overall and first female by about 4 minutes. I got in 3 miles of cool down for 10 miles total waiting for the awards to start. In hindsight, I should’ve just skipped it. I won a waterbottle. Like the kind you get at a giveaway table. And it included freebie chapstick and a pen. They handed out a bunch of door prizes — it would’ve been nice if they had maybe used a couple of those for overall prizes.
Despite being short and the prizes being disappointing, it’s a race with potential. It’s a good course and there’s a lot of room in thatp ark for some booths and family fun. I hope they grow it next year — they had 272 finishers this year which is good for a brand-new holiday weekend race!
Sunday was not very noteworthy; 6 miles easy from home. I got drizzled on in the beginning and then it was swampy for the rest. My plan was to end at Starbucks and walk home, rain dependent, and it started to drizzle again as I got there. Too late, right? I got an unsweet iced tea and headed home … as it started to really rain.
Totals: 55 miles run, 1.5 miles walked, 2,500 meters rowed, 3 Pilates classes taught!
TGRUNFIT 
I kinda want to steal this weekly recap idea 🙂 It’s seems like a good way to stay on the ball and keep up motivation.
You are welcome to it! It gives me a good opportunity to reflect outside of the nuts-and-bolts of a training log. Plus there’s some accountability to the internets. It’s funny, when I was briefly injured this spring, I didn’t post.