week 5 - success!

this week was a good week. i enjoyed my rest day, one without work this week. i'm also enjoying my short break before summer school starts. i'm able to go to bed early, which helps with getting up for those early morning workouts. it seems that the end of the semester brings one full week of catching up on sleep and doing NOTHING! i love it. 5 more classes - 3 more semesters.

this was a great training week too. due to the warmth on thursday, james shortened my long run from 10 to 6, but changed up my tempo for saturday. the weather was forecasted to change by saturday and be cooler so he upped the workout from 8 miles and 6 of tempo to 11 miles with 2x4 of tempo. it was exciting to think about. after last week's tempo going so well, i had some confidence in the bank. this is new territory for me. i'm having success in my training and it is carrying over into my mental preparedness. as i told james this week, the only thing i have to worry about it going out and going out and executing. he's planning my schedule, the pace, etc, and it takes all the worry and stress off of me.

it was around 60 degrees saturday morning, and i was fortunate to have terri meeting me for the first half of my run. we warmed up slowly, ridding the trace of some large pieces of debris from the storm the night before. our first mile in the first set was a bit off the pace at 8:37, but after that, it was dead on. 8:33, 8:27, and 8:25. i had 1 mile of rest in between, which was supposed to be 10:00, and we quickly discovered we were running a bit faster. the mind knew it had to slow down, but the legs didn't get the memo. but we did and ran it in 9:57. during that mile, i ate a gu, then quickly grabbed some water and said goodbye to terri. i plugged up to the ipod and got back to it. thanks to pearl jam, the foo fighters, muse and coldplay, i had 4 more strong miles. 8:24, 8:26, 8:24, and 8:24. my cool down was 9:42. i was fired up that i nailed the paces, and that i felt great doing it. my legs weren't as fresh as i would have liked, but overall everything was clicking. what my legs lacked, the mind and rest of my body made up. needless to say i was stoked when i was done. a little more confidence in the bank.

vicki had agreed to meet me this morning for my recovery at 6:30. i am so encouraged by how i've felt on these recovery runs the last couple of weeks. i've done them the day after hard runs, and i have felt pretty good. i couldn't go run a 7:50 mile or and 8:30 even, but i can easily manage the 10 minute recovery pace. it was a little cooler this morning, and we had a good run. my garmin died halfway through the run, but up until then, i was dead on the 10 minute pace. recovery runs have a purpose, and mine are doing their job. yesterday, the legs were a bit achey and sore. today they are much better.

while i was relaxing today, i did some stretching and even did a little ab work. i need to start incorporating some core work back into my training as well as some regular stretching. that's a new goal. it's also time to get serious about my diet again since i've, well, slipped. :)

this week i logged 32 miles - 5 at 7:50 and 8 and 8:30. i also had 2 reocovery rides in spin class. i'm now looking forward to a new week of training!