Week 8 Recap

This was a self portrait taken just after my long run last week.

Well that's another week checked off the list.

Felt good.  I don't know why 8 miles felt like some sort of milestone.

But it did.

Next week is a bit of a taper week which will feel nice.

My next big milestone is going to be 10 miles.  Which coincidentally falls on my 37th birthday!

What a great day that will be.  My last long run prior to Vegas.

And my birthday.

I LOVE my birthday.

Okay so on to the recap of Week 8:

Monday:  Yoga.  Fail.  It was Halloween and I just didn't have time to do it.

Tuesday:  4.5 miles, complete.  I was a little nervous this morning.  I woke up to rain turning into snow.  Then it cleared by lunch time so off I went.  It turned out to be an awesome run too.  I felt really strong.  Maybe it was that extra rest day.

Wednesday:  3 miles, complete.  Another good one.  All my weekday runs were done from work this week.  As we slide into the colder months running at the warmest part of the day is a wonderful thing. It will be very interesting once we turn hot again how I do.  I can't imagine I'll be running at lunchtime when it's 100 degrees outside.

Thursday:  4.5 miles, complete.  I ran with a co-worker this day.  A BOY *gasp*.  He's a cool cat.  He's married as well and his wife runs.  While I actually really love my solo runs, normally I only run with a partner on Sunday's.  But he's nice to run with.  We run north on the trail, which is the opposite direction than I normally run by myself.  He told me the first time we went out that he wouldn't recommend running north because he's seen more bums and stuff.  So I never do.  The other nice thing about running with him occasionally is that he pushes me to run faster. It's nice to know that I can run 4.5 miles and maintain my almost 5K pace the whole time. I was out of breath a lot with the chatting and faster pace.  But it was definitely a confidence booster.

Friday:  Rest, complete.  I did a lot of shopping this day!  Running Warehouse had 25% off of the sale price of everything already on sale.  I got some great Christmas presents and I also ordered my anniversary present (thanks Honey!).  I'll share my purchases when they arrive this week.

Saturday:  50m Cross Train, another FAIL.  Seriously I need to work on this big time.  Even if it's just going out for a walk with my daughter.

Sunday:  8 miles, DONE.  Rebecca and I headed out feeling strong and ready for the 8 miles ahead.  Rather than our normal 7am we headed out at 9am this morning.  It was much warmer. I wore my newish Brooks running tights.  And my legs were golden!  I felt so warm. Not like last week when I was chilled to the bone when I got home.  I was amazed and what a difference the pants were.  I noticed as I was cutting the tags off last night that they said ideal for less than 40 degrees. I didn't realize that they were designed to be that warm when I got them. Or maybe I did and forgot because I bought them awhile ago thinking I was going to need them sooner.  What a great purchase. These babies will get me through this Utah Winter for sure.  I wore my coat this morning too and ended up taking it off at the halfway point.  We also tried some Honey Stinger gummies.  They were tasty. I liked that they weren't as gooey as the Clif Shot Bloks and GU Chomps.  My legs took a LONG time to warm up this morning though, that kind of sucked. I don't think I felt truly good until after the halfway point.  But we were also running into a pretty strong headwind on the way out too.  That didn't help either.  All in all it was a good run and I felt strong.  It felt like a bit of a challenge that last mile, I could tell my legs were getting a little tired. But we finished strong.  I came home and popped some Ibuprofen and am still wearing my CEP Calf Compression Sleeves. 

Observations for the Week:  Eating a egg white breakfast burrito in the morning before I go to work seemed to work really well for me this week.  I wasn't quite hungry for another meal before my noontime run, but I also wasn't trying to scarf down a yogurt real quick before I have to head out to run.  I'll keep doing that this week.

WOW .. we're almost there!!

Week 9:

Monday ~ Yoga

Tuesday ~ 5 Miles

Wednesday ~ 3 Miles

Thursday ~ 5 Miles

Friday ~ Rest

Saturday ~ 50m Cross Train

Sunday ~ 10K