This summer is flying, I can’t believe that it’s already July!  This past week had more volume, but nothing too crazy.  Although I did my long run while at the lake which was crazy and provided waaay more hills than I ever wanted to run!

Monday – Rest Day

Tuesday – 45 min aerobic run at lunch, 4.5 miles.  After work I headed to the pool to swim 2500 yards.  Afterwards I stopped by Which wich on my way home to get dinner (I love their unwiches).  It has become our Tuesday night routine since we both get home late on Tuesday, I swim and JMR has speedwork at a local track, so it’s just easier than cooking. PLUS, Tuesdays are double punch card days, so every few weeks we have enough punches for a free sandwich 🙂

JMR never believes I actually go swim, so I texted him a picture of my watch while waiting for our sandwiches. Garmin never counts my darn kicksets, hence it being 75 yards short on the screen.

Wednesday – 1:20 trainer ride. Holy moly this workout was TOUGH: 8 x 5:30 tempo @ 170 watts, recover 2 min and then :30 all out @ 230 watts.  I was dripping by the end.  After the ride I dragged myself outside to do a 2 mile run.  I slept very well that night!

Thursday – 1800 yard swim in the morning, followed by a 45 min run after work.  Which was supposed to be an hour progressive run (run faster every 2 miles), but my stomach was angry from the raw red onions in my salad at lunch.  A hard run wasn’t in the cards that day.  Lessoned learned!

Friday- I had Friday off (for the 4th of July since it falls on a Saturday this year), so I got up suuuuper early to get in my long ride before we headed to the lake that afternoon.  I had a four hour ride, and most of my friends were wanting to ride three at most, so I met up with my friend Ricky (he’s always up for an adventure, no matter how early) at 6:30a to ride an hour before meeting up with the rest of the group at 7:30.  So early.  We got in 67 miles total, followed by a 30 min run.  Then I headed home to shower and pack and we were finally on the road by 2:30p.

Saturday – 16 mile long run.  My coach had listed 2:15-2:30 hours, which would have me run an average of 8:26-9:22 pace.  Wow, sub 9 seemed fast to me anyways (I wasn’t even going to attempt an 8:26 pace), but I knew it would be extra tough to do with all of the hills along the route I was running that morning.  I had JMR drive me to the top of the neighborhood since there are several huuuuge hills that are even tough to walk up and off I went.  The first few miles I was able to hold right around a 9 min pace but as they went on, it got tougher.  Finally at mile 10, mentally I started to throw in the towel.  I was wondering if my coach really meant for me to run 16 miles, since the most I’ve run so far was 13…maybe she meant 14?  The way I was running my loops, I would hit 13 miles at the entrance to my neighborhood and then I was planning on adding another 1.5 mile short out and back to make it 16.  At this point, I thought 13 miles was. good. enough.  My pace went up to the high 10’s and I was struggling.

I ran into a gas station along the route and refilled up my handheld (really cold water too!), walked up a very huge hill while taking sips and finally when I got to the top I felt a second wave of energy.  I kept pushing and when I finally made it to my neighborhood entrance, I decided I wasn’t going to stop at 13 miles, the plan for today was 16 and that’s what I would run.  Plus I knew I’d be mad at myself later for cutting the run short.  So on I went, breaking it down into .5 mile chunks and finally I was done.  I hobbled down our long windy street and after thinking of my training last year, I realized that I had done an 18 mile run over the 4th of July weekend.  IMLOU was only a few weeks earlier than IMWI so 16 miles actually did sound reasonable (plus, I trust my coach, but my mind was going into a dark place during the run).  Boy was I glad I pushed through and got it all done!

When I got home, I drank my Infinit Recovery shake and hobbled around.  My legs ached!  I also was rubbed raw where my heart rate monitor was.  I’ve been tucking part of it under my sport bra so that it’s a snugger fit, but that just isn’t going to work.  Ouch.

The rest of the day JMR and I hung out on the dock with the rest of the family, ate a lot, had a few beers and just relaxed 🙂

JMR looked better in the first picture my mom took, but my eyes were closed. Sorry JMR.

Sunday – JMR and I left the lake around 2, but hit terrible traffic on the highway so it took an hour longer.  Bummer, other than that, it was a really fun weekend!  I did an easy 45 min trainer ride after we unpacked the car and was in bed by 8:45 🙂

Total Training Hours: 12:33