This Week in Training

After all the excitement of the week, is it any wonder that my training suffered? Every run was tough this week because my legs were heavy, and I didn't get in any cross-training (unless you count speed-walking through airports, climbing stairs, and touring Minneapolis on foot...or building a bookshelf, which I did Friday).

That's right, I built it myself! Loading the books on was no small task, either.

But I got them done...mostly.

On Monday, I had my nice 4-miler through the parks of Minneapolis. I finished that run just as people were walking to work, so my last half mile consisted mostly of dodging between briefcase-toting business-people. There were also a lot of stops at cross-walks, which kind of took the wind out of my sails.

I wish we had parks with cool fountains, statues, and lots of trees here in my part of Florida!

I pushed my speedwork from Wednesday (when we flew home) to Thursday. I made the mistake of doing this at night. I think if I had gone in the morning, I would have been more successful. This was my first time ever doing repeats, and the plan called for 1600s at 9:12 with 800 recovery jogs. Before I even began, I went to the bathroom and was sick. (Maybe my intestines were all jumbled from airport fare?) After my mile warmup, I went to the bathroom again...with the same results. My 4-mile repeats became a 2-miler.

I shook it off and was looking forward to my long run this weekend. Saturday morning I ran my scheduled 9 miles. It was already ridiculously humid when I got started, and by the time I finished it was in the 80s. 

At 6:10 when I started the run, it was 77 with a humidity of 94%. WTH Florida.

Seriously my new favorite fuel for these shorter long runs. Thanks, Heather, for the tip!

My legs were still exhausted, but luckily I had no tummy troubles.

Post-run chocolate milk and a shot of my #RUNootd.

My biggest setback on this run was that I was chugging too much water. It was so hot and I found myself gulping down about 32 ounces over the course of the run. By the halfway point, I was cramping up and felt like I might vomit from all the sloshing. So I adjusted my plan and finished the run doing run/walk intervals.

You can see where I walked in orange on the map. (Not to be confused with the awesome orange splotches meant to protect my location haha.)

I saw a huge bunny on the run, which marks the first time I've seen one close to home (as opposed to at my parents' house or out of state)!

So yeah, this week was rough. But rough weeks make us stronger, and I'm not concerned in any way. The fact that I powered through the full 9 when I could have cut it short speaks volumes...even if the run was one of my slowest to date.

In other fun news, I made the banner of the Sub-30 Club group (which, by the way, has expanded to over 1,900 members after Runner's World Magazine published a little blurb on it!), along with a few other awesome people...

Can you spot me? (Yes, I wore the shirt on my run Monday to represent the club in Minnesota!)

The entry is here...see if you can figure out which is me!

...and Janae at Hungry Runner Girl featured me as part of her Finish Line Photos post this week!

I'm looking forward to a much more consistent week next week!

How do you deal with a tough running week?

How do you adjust a run that's not going your way?

How does travel affect your workout/run schedule?

ABK