Weekly roundup

This week felt completely manageable, thank goodness. It was a bit of a respite week, with a long run of just 12 miles in preparation for next week's 18. Yikes. I finished everything on my schedule with the exception of some ab work that I ran out of time to do at the gym, then forgot about once I got home. Not bad!

Monday, 10/12:

Full-body weights

40 minutes on the stairclimber in zone 1 (125-133 bpm)

Ordinarily, I'm a stickler for 45 minutes of cardio on my weight training days. But I'm working on cutting myself a little slack right now since I'm really making up for anything I miss on the long runs, which last for at least a couple hours. So I forgive myself for doing 40 minutes on the stairclimber instead of 45. (Go ahead and laugh, I know I'm ridiculous.)

Tuesday, 10/13:

8-mile run

A bit of a slog, but I got through it with the fine company of SAJ.

Wednesday, 10/14:

Full-body weights

4 miles running on the track, including intervals

I did my workout in segments today: weights at the gym in the afternoon, then intervals on the track in the evening. We started with a half mile or so of easy jogging, then did close to three miles of interval work (8 sets of one lap around the track at a sprint, followed by a recovery lap). We wrapped up with a few more recovery laps and mixed things up with skips, grapevines, sideways gallops and backwards jogging. It was a great night -- the rain had been coming down steadily all day but the skies cleared just in time for our 7pm meeting time. Even better: my wonderful husband, who hasn't been out running since I cajoled him into it when we were on vacation in August, joined us and was able to complete the entire workout. I was so impressed! And, since he is always interested in working on his short burst energy to enhance his jiu jitsu practice, I actually think he'll come back and do it with us again. Yay!

Thursday, 10/15:

5-mile run

I was anticipating an easy-as-pie run with my charming Cousin B -- and instead, found myself dragging alongside him and wondering if I could finish. Just another reminder not to get too comfortable on my high horse. And a chance to be grateful that I only had to feel that way for 5 miles instead of two or three times that. Regardless, it was a treat to run with him and catch up on what we've been doing.

Friday, 10/16:

Upper-body weights

40 minutes on the treadmill in low zone 1 (105-109 bpm)

This was the day when I ran out of time to do abs -- and didn't reach my goal of 45 minutes of cardio, either. That was probably for the best: in my efforts to stay at or around 100 bpm, I had to keep decreasing the speed on the treadmill until I was barely moving along at the ridiculous pace of 1.2 mph ... and still I couldn't get my heart rate below 105! Crazy. (Although it must be said that I had the incline set to 15%). I wasn't sure if I was overly tired or coming down with something -- or both -- but thought it best to try to take it easy for the rest of the day in preparation for Saturday's 12 miles.

Saturday, 10/17:

12-mile run

So ridiculous it deserves its own post and picture (to come).

Sunday, 10/18:

Rest

Hallelujah. I haven't felt this in need of a rest day in a while -- nor have I ever taken the term so literally. I laid in bed for a good portion of the day, alternating between reading and napping. Does it make me sound a bit less self-indulgent if I say that I felt like I was on my way to coming down with a cold? I do think the rest helped: it's two days later and I don't feel nearly as many symptoms. Cold averted? Fingers crossed.