Miler Method #4: Week 5/6

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Blergh. Sick kids = sick mom. This is gonna be a rough week.

Monday

Scheduled: 15-20min WU, 3x3x30s hills (easy, med, hard) , 10-15min CD

Did: nope

I slept about 15 hours between noon yesterday and 6am today. Might try to push this workout to later in the week, might just skip it completely. 

I felt a little blergh in the morning, but back to 100% by bedtime. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 5-7mi easy + 2-3xCore

Did: 10KTuesday @ 10:12/mi avg

Wasn't sure I was going to run today, so I told my training partners not to count on me and do their own thing. I decided to not set an alarm and just let my body wake me up when it had had enough sleep. If that was early enough to run, and I felt good, I'd run. If not, well, I'd be "listening to my body".

I woke up on my own at 4:21, felt pretty good, and decided to head out for an easy run. Before my watch hit 1.0, I was already doubting if this was a good decision. I was going much slower than usual (close to an 11min pace), but felt alright. I decided to let myself go a mile out, and then, if I was still feeling icky, to turn around. 

At the 1mi mark, I felt better, so I decided to go another half mile, and then repeated this pattern a few times, giving myself ample chances to turn around, cut the run short, etc. I ended up doing the full 10K, but, even now, I'm not sure if that was the right call. Guess we'll see how I feel this afternoon... 

Also, didn't do more core workout today. Oops.

Wednesday

Scheduled: rest

Did: 35min weight lifting + 3.23mi @ 10:25/mi avg
I'd really planned on resting today, but some life stress sent me into full-on workout mode. I did the strength/lifting-only components of two of my favorite Beachbody LIIFT4 workouts back-to-back (chest/back/triceps/biceps) and then went out for an easy run in the afternoon with my kiddos. It was really nice to be able to push the little one in the double, while the older one rode a bike. While my pace varied widely with the older one's biking, it was really empowering to be able to take both kids to the greenway solo and get a good workout in with them.

 

Thursday

Scheduled: 10-20min WU, 10min tempo, 5-10min rest, 4x300@MP (45s recovery), 4min rest, 4x200m @ 43-44s with 90s recovery, 15min CD, 1 set strength

Did: as scheduled...well, minus the strength set :P

OMG, this workout felt SOOOOOOO good. 

WU: 1.53mi @ 9:49ish/mi

Tempo: 1.43mi (per Garmin) @ 7:00/mi

This felt really good this morning. 

300s: 63.3, 65, 65.7, 67.3 (Goal: 67.5)

I felt really good and strong on each of these. The last one is a few seconds slow because I didn't quite make it back to the start line before my watch beeped (stopped to re-ponytail my hair), so there's a little extra distance. Considering the 67.5 goal is for a 6:00 flat pace, I feel like I'm in really good shape for a fast mile. 

The past few times I've done Miler Method, my Week 5 speedworkout has been 4x400m @ MP, and I've done those all with a 6:00 goal pace... and varying levels of success.

200s: 40.3, 41.5 (Goal: 42-43s)

These felt GREAT. 

CD: 1.35 @ 10:00ish/mi avg

So.... yeah. I feel pretty awesome this morning.

Friday

Scheduled: 5-7mi easy

Did: 4.01mi @ 9:40/mi avg 

I kind of felt like running an extra mile here to hit the minimum scheduled mileage... but didn't let myself fall into the trap of "making up miles". Besides, I'm already planning on going longer than I "should" for my long run this weekend. :P  

Saturday

Scheduled: 5-7mi easy

Did: 10.22mi @ 9:30/mi avg, plus a few walks with the kiddos

Training plan had 5-7mi "in preparation for this weekend's harder workouts". Considering I already did the harder workouts (I've swapped days around from the prescribed order to fit my schedule better), and my training partner and I were both kinda wanting double digits, we opted for 10. It was really nice to run in the rain, and even better to get it all done before 6:30am :D  

Sunday

Scheduled: 15-20min WU, 15min tempo, 10min CD, 1 set core

Did: 1.25mi walk, run as scheduled (5.14mi @ 8:59/mi avg), 0.5mi walk, 1 set core

With my husband sidelined from running for a bit, I opted for a later run to still spend the morning together with our munchkins. We did a nice walk around the city center to see the scarecrow displays in the drizzle, without anyone else around. It felt absolutely magical to get out and about with my family, somewhere that wasn't the greenway or riverside path. 

After we got home, I headed out for my run. The weather was perfect: low 60s, slight drizzle, and full overcast. Beautiful. Tempo was a bit slower than I wanted, but I was also going uphill for the first bit.

First bit of tempo (uphill): 8:01/mi avg :P

Second bit of tempo (flat/downhill): 7:01/mi avg

Total distance = 1.96-- not quite the 2.0mi I'm normally gunning for on these, but I'll let it slide since I had so much elevation. 

Even managed to do my core workout after a shower and some homemade Larabars. ;) (diet has been much better this week, and I feel the effects of fueling better, too) 

Total Weekly Mileage: 35.4

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I feel so much better when I put better food into my body. 
• Homemade Larabars are like crack to me. I need to instantly put them in the freezer and bury them below lots of stuff.... otherwise, I eat them... like, ALL. 
• It's crazy how easily I get derailed from my strength training/core training. 
• I've got what could be a personally/professionally stressful week coming up. That could be a good thing to have accompanying taper week... or I might go crazier without running/working out. 
• Also, just realized my Thursday workout was actually 4x200m after the 300s, not 2. Crap. I guess I had 2 in my head since they were 200s... I feel pretty bad about screwing up a workout and slacking. Ugh. Oh well. 
• Mile trial is next week, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. :D If 6:00 doesn't happen this time, I have zero doubts I'm capable of it, right now. Just gotta make it happen. What an amazing feeling to have. 
• Also, bought a fun glittery workout outfit with some birthday money... It makes me feel happy :)

Miler Method #4: Week 3/6

Week-beginning Thoughts:

• I need to plan better this week. I'm going to identify all my target paces the night before my runs and determine when/how/where I'll get my core/strength circuits in. 

Monday

Scheduled:  5mi easy

Did: 5.04mi @ 9:30/mi avg
Oooh, I got over seven hours of sleep and woke up to beautifully crisp, fall air. It felt a little strange to put on a shirt to run (not even a singlet, like, a real short-sleeved tech shirt), but the wind was howling. Felt good, and was even showered before the rest of the family got up. Win.

..of course, I also started feeling sick again halfway through my work day. Blergh. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 2 sets of Core pre-run, 5-7mi easy, 6x100m strides,

Did: 5.59mi @ 9:31/mi avg, , 6x100m-ish strides, 2x Core
Had a 2am-3am wakeup with baby, but was able to get back to sleep afterwards (hooray, that's a rarity)... though my 4:10am alarm wasn't welcome. I'm used to sleeping in my running clothes, because it's one less barricade to getting out the door in the morning, but didn't do that last night since it was chilly. 

That was the wrong call. I struggled for another ten minutes to get out of my nice, warm bed, and probably would have delayed too long had I not been meeting my 10KTuesday crew at 4:50am. Lesson learned: always wear your running clothes to bed, and just throw sweats over them if it's too cold to sleep in shorts and a singlet. 

Pacing was consistent for most of the early miles. I planned on doing 5mi easy and then using the rest of the 10KTuesday route for strides, but we got to talking and I ended up delaying my start a bit. Still got in the strides, of varying lengths and paces, since I didn't have a track, but they felt good. Oddly enough, my recoveries were about as long as the strides, and not very slow (relatively). 

I wasn't really feeling like doing my core workout when I got back in, but, with my family still asleep, it was hard to justify NOT doing it... so I did. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: rest

Did: 3.12mi easy @ 9:36/mi avg

Couldn't pass up 62 degrees and no wind... While I didn't have time for a full 5mi (my shortest prescribed "optional/easy run"), I figured something was better than nothing. 

Thursday

Scheduled: 15-20min WU, 10min tempo, 5min rest, 800m (2:56 = 1:28/lap = 44s/200m), 2x300m @ 67.5s, then 600m all-out.... then 10-15min CD, 

Did: as scheduled = 5.83mi @ 8:52/mi avg, 2x strength circuit

Today was a good day. I knew today was going to be a really hard workout, especially when I did the math on Sunday (weee, planning ahead) for what my splits needed to be. It was also going to be a really awesome day, though, because days are always great when you do something hard first thing in the morning. 

I cut the warm-up a little bit shorter than prescribed (because it lined up well with where I happened to be on the track/where I wanted to start intervals), and was about to set out for my 800 when my training partner said, "Don't you have tempo today?"

Oooh, yeah, I do.... Whoops. 

Tempo felt sluggish today. Normally, I feel pretty free on these, but today, I just didn't. Still, Garmin had me at 1.38mi (Garmin overestimates distance, but, for consistency, I'm comparing this value week-to-week), and I was only about 20-30m short of my usual distance. I chalked it up to poor eating and a stressful yesterday (two deadlines and a webinar presentation for 130 people during my 10+ hours at work), and mentally moved on. 

Previously, I've been taking the 5min "rest" as actual rest, jogging over to the start/finish line and just hanging out until my workout began. After reading a FB Q&A post with our coaches, though, I opted to turn it into an easy jog today. 

Soon, it was time for the 800. I knew my goal splits, and was ready to go. I was a little nervous about today. I mean, I haven't run a fast 800 since my last miler camp, and that was for a Time Trial. Today, I was supposed to run an 800m four seconds faster than what my mile pace would be... and it wasn't even Time Trial week (that's next week, btw). 

I took off, repeating the splits I had to hit in my head (44, 1:28, 2:12, 2:56) like a mantra. Oddly enough, I never actually checked these splits during the entire 800m. I felt like I was definitely working. My breathing changed to my race breath about 400m in, and I felt it. God, I have a "whole 'nother lap" to go... 

Having a goal time in my head, though, helped motivate me to push on. I did a 3:00 in my last time trial. Today, I was going for faster than that. 

800m:  2:53.9

HELL. YES. I didn't know it at the time, but, after looking over old race records, I'm pretty sure that's an 800m PR. Weeeeeee. Now I've gotta break that next week. 

I forgot to ask Nick and Sierra what my rest between intervals was supposed to be (it wasn't specified), so I opted to take between 90 and 120s, in line with other workouts. 

I was not feeling pumped for the 300s. These were at mile pace, which was fast... and I'd just run a really fast 800m. Oh well, gotta get 'em done... 

I didn't know what my splits were until I reviewed my watch output a few hours later, but was thrilled to see:

300m #1:  65

300 #2:  64.7

After the second 300, I was beyond glad to not have a "goal time" for my 600. It was just an "All You Got". I wasn't sure what I had to give after the first leg(s) of the workout, but I'd give what I had.

600m: 2:20.7 

This was so hard. I could tell my training partner knew I was struggling by the words she chose to cheer me on with. I felt slow. I felt tired, but I had a small kick on the last 100m... and was SO glad to be done. I'll be honest, though, this was not all I had physically. I could have gone faster, but I let the mental fatigue win by using the "eh, there's no time goal, it's just whatever you have... and maybe this is all you have, and that's okay". 

I could've gone faster. 

While my teammate finished up her workout, I did my strength circuits (check it out-- that makes two days this week where I've done the non-run components of my plan!). 

What a great start to the day. :D

Friday

Scheduled: 5-7mi optional

Did: some light lifting and yoga, but nothing significant

I didn't plan on running this morning. Instead, I used my morning time to tackle a deadline at work. Hopefully the 3mi I did on Wednesday makes up for not running today. It does in my mind, at least :) 

Saturday

Scheduled: 8-12mi long, Core x 2

Did: 12mi @ 9:23/mi avg

I had so many various feelings and thoughts during this run. At 0.6mi in, I remember thinking, "How can we not even be at ONE mile yet?". As we approached the halfway point for our normal ten miler, my husband told the kids, "Mommy's got 12 on the schedule, so we're going past the tunnel today."

Oh, I guess we are doing 12 then....

Around 8mi, I started feeling pretty good. That was about the time my husband slowed down due to some heel pain, leaving me solo for the last four. I remembered my training plan had said something about picking up the pace if we felt good... so I did.

...and then walked another 1.5mi with the fam :) 

Sunday

Scheduled: 15-20min WU, 15min tempo, 10min CD

Did: Core x2, 15min WU, 15min tempo, 15min CD... and then more CD = 6.58mi total @ 9:09:/mi avg

Well, core didn't happen yesterday, but I did a couple rounds today before hitting the pavement for tempo. 

WU: 1.47mi @ 10ish/mi avg

Tempo: 2.04mi @ 7:21/mi avg

CD: whatever's left over... I keep trying to write this blog, but get through, like, half a sentence before the baby starts crying "mamá, mamá"... 

I ended up running a bit further on the cooldown than I'd planned. I wanted to close out with a mile walk post-run, but it started raining, so we had to get the kiddos back to the car. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 39.1

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I ate better this week, and felt better
• Sleep was also a bit better (yay, lower stress and more baby sleeping through the night)
• Still feeling like a near-40mpw is NBD
• I can't believe we're already halfway through this training cycle! I'm loving the workouts and feeling both intimidated and excited by the upcoming time trial. According to my plan, I'm supposed to go thirteen seconds FASTER than this week's 800m PR... Eek. 

Miler Method; Week 6/6

Week-beginning Thoughts:
All the emotions this week... A friend mentioned this pandemic has been going on for 18 weeks here in the states. 18 weeks. That's a long marathon training plan. I'm having a hard time with the fact that I can't control things. I want to feel safe enough to go into the office five days a week, walk down to my boss' office and chat, be social in the break room, go to chorus and sing with my friends, run 10KTuesday again with my teammates, go to the freaking grocery store, browse the library, go on vacation, laugh with friends around the firepit, meet my husband for a mid-day lunch date in a restaurant, talk to people.... 

And that's spilled over into thinking of other things in life that I can't control. Things that are done and decided. Things I can't just make a training plan or a step-by-step "how to make X happen" plan to execute. Because they're things you can't do that for. 

Running has been an incredible coping method for me for the past ten years (and continues to be), but there comes a point where even running can't help. 

Monday

Did: 30min yoga, 5K treadmill walk

This was a bad day for a rest day. Too much life stress.Yoga didn't help. Treadmill walk didn't really help. 

Tuesday

Did: 6.36mi easy @ 9:56/mi avg

Struggle bus of a day and a ran, but got it done. 

Wednesday

Did: 10min WU, 5min tempo/3min rest, 3x30s @ MP, 15min CD = 4.06mi @ 9:58/mi avg

What a short workout! Kind of felt like a bit of a tease with all the short, fast bits. 

Also, fun interface on my new Polar watch's platform:

Thursday

Did: 30min Autumn Calabrese workout, 5K treadmill walk

Rest days are the WORST for my mood and mental well-being. 

Friday

Did: 2mi run with 4x70m-ish strides, 2mi walk

Got my 1-2mi in on the greenway this morning, and threw in a few strides-- not measured or timed, just to stretch my legs-- then walked back to my car. Abs are a bit sore from yesterday's workout. That feels nice. 

Saturday

Did: 1.74mi WU + strides + 1mi Race + 10ish min CD = 4ish mi @ fast

NEW MILE PR

Sunday

Did:10.02mi @ 10:01/mi avg, 6mi bike

Oooh, we had takeout (ribs+cheesecake) last night "in celebration" of my mile PR, and that was NOT the right call. My body is definitely not used to that type of food, and my digestive system rebelled this morning. :P Fortunately, I was able to clear everything out pre-run and enjoy a little more than an hour and a half outside with my family, running. 

..and then I took the little one for a "first bike ride" :) 

Total Weekly Mileage: 26.4 (whoa, is that right? lowest mileage in... awhile!)

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Super content. Super proud. Such a great week of running.
• What's next? Um, the same teammate who did Miler Method with me suggested we do a "10 days of 10 miles" streak. Sounds good. 

5K Training: Week 11/12

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Wow, we're already at Week 11 of 12? This training cycle has gone really well. I feel like I've been working hard, but not so much that I'm consumed by running/training thoughts all the time, or having to modify my life to accommodate training. Opting to train for a 5K instead of a spring half was definitely the right call. 

Monday

Scheduled: rest
Did: rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10K w/strides
Did: 10KTuesday with 4xhill repeats= 6.35mi @ 9:49/mi avg, Big 2
Hooray for having training partners back! :D We had some nice easy miles to start (all really consistently around 9:40 after the WU mile), and then took off for the hills. I felt really fast and really strong up them, but my pace was "only" in the 7s for the ~150m or so of hill. Oh well, still felt like I had good form and got something out of it. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: XT
Did: 20min weights, 10min yoga
Heeeey, look at me, I'm doing something on Wednesdays! Special thanks to the littlest baby in our house for having a reasonable sleep schedule that facilitates this sort of thing. ;) 

Arms, chest, back, and then some hip-opener yoga

Thursday

Scheduled: 1mi WU, 5x1000(4:11)/400, 1mi CD
Did: rest
Felt kind of sick and opted out of working out. Got a 90min sports massage to deal with my IT tightness. Oof. Hurt so good.

Friday

Scheduled: 3-4mi easy
Did: 2mi @ 9:55/mi avg treadmill, Big 5
Felt a bit better from the sickness side of things, but my IT band was definitely feeling the effects of yesterday's massage. I decided to run, but just cut it to 2mi.

Saturday

Scheduled: 1mi WU, 3x2mi(16:00-16:30)/800, 1mi CD = 9.5mi
Did: 2mi WU, 5x1000(~4:30)/400, 2mi CD = 8.72mi @ 8:47/mi avg, Big 5, all-day chorus session
I had a lot of thoughts about what this workout could/should be. I knew I wanted some sort of "challenge" element, and that it probably ought to be on the speed side versus pure distance. I ended up choosing to do Thursday's workout, but parking further from our usual track parking to get extra mileage on the WU and CD. 

It was a cold morning- 28 degrees. The 2mi WU wasn't bad, and then it was just a matter of knocking off a series of (5)-2 1/2 laps with 1 lap in-between. Between my sore IT band, getting over a sickness, being tired, and the cold weather, I had plenty of excuses to lean on when it came to not "going for the gold" on my split times. Based on my indicator, I should've been running 4:11. I let myself not do that today and just went comfortably hard, which ended up shaking out to:

4:30, 4:31, 4:30, 4:28, and 4:27

Good. Enough. 

Stretched, showered, ate, and then set off for another full-day chorus coaching session with my adorable 20+ lb weight strapped on for seven hours.

Sunday

Scheduled: 4-5mi easy with stroller
Did: 5.02mi @ 9:54/mi avg with the double, Big 5

Couldn't figure out why my legs were so sore on a Sunday until my training partner noted she felt the same... due to speedwork on Saturday. Ohhhhh, yeah. River was flooded so our route was limited with the strollers- lots of out-and-backs, but we got our 5mi in. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 22.09

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Definitely does NOT feel like the last week of training before a race... There's no anxiety, excitement, or even confidence leading into this coming week. I think I've already "checked out" of Publix? Maybe it's because my IT band was acting up, or because I already had the performance I was hoping for at my time trial, but I'm just kind of in a "go with the flow" mood for my goal race. 

5K Training: Week 9/12

Week-beginning Thoughts:
So, I ran a PR 5K on Saturday, but still have four weeks in my training plan.... That's weird.

Monday

Scheduled: rest
Did: rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: 6.3mi hills
Did: 1mi WU, 2mi tempo, 0.18mi recovery, 1mi tempo, 0.13mi recovery, 1mi tempo-ish, 1mi CD = 6.25mi @ 8:50/mi avg
Because I've gotten SO much from my tempo workouts, I opted to do another one today instead of the hill workout that was scheduled. I'd originally planned to do 2x2mi tempo, but found the first 2mi incredibly hard. I hit the pace I wanted (M1- 8:07, M2- 7:57), but seriously felt like puking at the turnaround. 

Lesson learned: Do not eat a Larabar 5min before you're going to go run. 

I took my recovery, and then bargained with myself: do one more hard, then finish up with a sub-9 last one, and call it good. 

So I did. 

M3- 8:00
M4- 8:38

Wednesday

Scheduled: XT
Did: 20min strength training
To bed at 11pm, up at 2:30am, and up again at 5am.... but I ended up getting a short workout in while baby giggled happily around 5:30. It wasn't much, just using my resistance band (thanks, Fit4Mom) for some rows, lat pulls, bicep curls, etc. and then my old Miler Method core workout. Still, felt good to do something. 

Also, I've got new health insurance with my new job, and it has a pretty sweet "healthy lifestyle" incentives program (Humana's Go365). To earn points, we have to go through little online programs about how to motivate ourselves, and what we want to do to "get active". While part of me rolls my eyes and says, "seriously? I'm already a runner", it's also a neat opportunity to reflect on how far I've come. 

I used to be like their primary audience. I used to make tons of excuses about why I didn't have time or why working out wasn't necessary for me. I used to have motivation problems. Now, nothing I do on a workout front is "optional" in my head. I don't even question how/if/why I'm going to run, because it's as ingrained in my lifestyle as taking a shower or scrolling Facebook on my phone. 

16 years ago, I looked like this

Running hasn't just changed my health. It's changed my entire outlook on myself and my life. I'm so glad I started 

Thursday

Scheduled: 1mi WU, 6x800 (3:20 or 9mph)/400, 1mi CD
Did: 1mi WU, 4.5x800/400, 1mi CD, 0.5mi walk 
I've been worried about this workout since I saw my required goal splits yesterday. Then the anxiety heightened when I realized the forecast was 100% thunderstorms, meaning I wouldn't be going to the track with my teammate, and would have to do it myself on the treadmill.

Cue additional anxiety when I realized that the 3:20 goal split was a 9.0mph pace on the treadmill. 

Never have I ever run 9.0mph on a treadmill.

...and then, last night, my oldest was kind of sick, which meant that someone else in our family (likely me, since I'm the requested "cuddle buddy" all the time) is about to get sick. 

...and then said kid was up crying/coughing/sick at 3am. 


So, all things considered, this workout was really not fated to happen. I ended up being wide awake at 3:30am and figuring that I might as well just get up and run now, since the chances of going to sleep were slim, especially since there are other children in the house that might also be waking up and needing me.

I did NOT want to do this workout. At ALL.

I reluctantly started running, and the 6.0mph warm-up pace felt like I was already on the hard intervals. Lord, this was going to be a long workout. I put on some Outlander, and tried to focus on that. 

"It'll be over in an hour."


Eventually, I felt comfortable, though I still wasn't quite ready for the gun to go off after the warm-up mile. 

It's just two laps on the track. 

But there wasn't a track. The treadmill was different. Instead of owning the pace myself, able to ebb and flow, I was going to be pulled along at a static pace by the belt, whether I liked it or not.

Spoiler Alert: I did not like it. I did not like it one bit.


As soon a I touched the "9" on my 'mill, the belt felt like it was going WAY TOO FAST. 

How can I even get my legs to turn over that quickly?!!?

I don't know how, but I did. In fact, I managed to hang on for an entire 800m. 

...and then it went downhill. I had one decent recovery jog, another 800 where I started at a 9.0 and dropped to an 8.7, and then, by the third interval, couldn't hang onto an 8.0 without feeling awful.

I ended up doing 4.5 repeats, at:

3:19
3:25
3:23
3:36 (yeah, that's when I knew it was bad)
and 1:50 (equivalent 800= 3:40)

and then calling it quits.

I never stop in the middle of a workout, but when I couldn't hold an 8.0mph without feeling rough, I knew nothing positive would come out of pushing myself through more repeats. It's actually pretty cool to be so in-tune with my body that I can tell when I'm getting sick based on my athletic performance.

not pretty, not as planned
but done

Friday

Scheduled: 3-4mi easy
Did: rest
Kid has flu. I'm next. :/ 

Saturday

Scheduled: 5mi hills
Did: rest
No fever today, but opted to take it easy and give my body another full day to recover from the funk. Enjoyed playing outside in the snow, though. 

and having some coffee after :) 

Sunday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 4mi tempo, 4mi CD
Did: 6.23mi @ 9:32/mi, Big 5
I knew heading out that I wasn't going to do the workout as prescribed today. After a few days out sick, it wasn't smart to do double digits, much less any tempo work. I did, however, hope that I could make it four miles. I told myself I'd evaluate a few times on the run, giving myself an opportunity to bail out every two miles. If I felt awesome and 100% excellent, I'd go the full ten, at an easy pace. Otherwise, whenever I started to feel less than 100% awesome, I'd turn at the next mile. 

I felt great at the 2mi mark, but a little tired at the 4mi. On any other day, I'd chalk it up to mental blergh and push on through to 10, but I've learned enough in the last decade of running to realize that would set me back more than "only running some of the mileage". 

Proud of what I accomplished, and prouder that I was able to gracefully cut a workout "short". 

Total Weekly Mileage: 17.47

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Man, I remember when 7mpw was an incredible, "omg, that's SO many miles" feeling. Now, I look at the 17.47 and think, "omg, that's, like, nothing". lol
• If I had to get sick, the week after my time trial was a pretty good time for it. 
• My show chorus is looking at getting a group together for a gimmicky run in May. I don't relish the thought of paying over $50 for a race just to get a bunch of themed crap I won't use/wear/appreciate, but I will say that it is really freaking cool to be fast enough that I might have a shot a placing.