I did not get in as much running as I was supposed to this week, but I really tried to roll with it. I had family visiting New York for the weekend, and I was so looking forward to seeing them for the first time in over a year!
Tuesday morning Mike and I met up at the track near my house, and got in an interval run together. I ran to the track, and did a few easy laps while I waited for Mike to arrive. When he got to the track we finished up the warm-up, and got into the workout. The plan was for 4 1200m repeats at a 7:50 pace, with 400 m of rest between each.
We shifted from warmup into workout, and Mike kept talking to me like there was no increase in effort. I listened to him talk, but kept questioning how he was doing it. By the time we got to the final lap of the first he was more on my page, and I think we were both happy for the recovery lap. As we got later into the workout, Mike got more on my level with regards to talking during track intervals. It reached a point where we were both just trying to hang onto the pace with each repeat.
But in the end, we made it through the session. The first two intervals were a little faster than the second too, but it was a humid morning, so we were both okay with it. We parted ways, and I got in a little cooldown run as I headed home, and made sure to stretch before moving on with my day.
Since I knew that I would be busy during the weekend, I had planned to get in a run on Wednesday, and then take my weekly rest day on Friday or Saturday. But when it was time to run after work, I could only think about swimming. I just wanted to get in the pool and swim some laps! I don’t feel that way often, so I suited up, and headed to the pool instead of popping on some running shoes. I listened to music as I got through my laps, and decided to take my time and swim a mile. It wasn’t the run that I planned on, but I felt so good after that swim.
With Thursday came another call for a tempo run from my training plan. This week called for 7 miles at tempo place, and with the humidity and heat of the week, I had no desire to run outside in that. Instead I planned to go by my parent’s house after work and hop on their treadmill, and sneak in a few loads of laundry while I got my miles in.
I hadn’t successfully strung together a full length tempo run to this point in my training schedule, but I decided to make an attempt at going for the 7 miles on my schedule. I lined up a stack of classes on the peloton and planned to run my own miles as I listened to the classes.
I started with a 10 minute warm up run, then did a 5 minute stretch before picking up the pace. The first class in my stack was a 30 minute tempo run with Matt Wilpers, and when I was at a mile total, I turned up the pace on the treadmill, and played the “set it and forget it” game. As the class rolled through different paces, I mentally pretended that I was taking recoveries when they did, even though I did not touch the pace wheel. At the end of the class I took a minute to drink water and shifted a load of laundry before starting the next class. I picked one of my favorites, a 20 minute Punk Rock run with Chase Tucker. I knew that any time I had taken the class before, the soundtrack had gotten me through the miles with ease, and often faster than expected. Once again, I set my pace, and got to it. I focused on the songs, and mentally sang along, since there was no way I had the breath to sing along outloud. I was racking up the miles, and did the math as I neared the end of the second class. I had managed to hold my goal tempo pace for 5.5 miles. When I started I thought there was no way I would get to 7 miles, but with only 1.5 miles to go, I felt like I had to at least try. I swapped over some laundry, then pulled up another repeat class – Matty Maggiacomo’s 30 minute Hamilton run. I figured that a 30 minute class would motivate me to get in a solid cooldown. I kept my tempo pace for the first half of the run, and then dipped into a cooldown for the second half – I was so pleased with myself. seven miles at goal tempo pace! Sure, there had been a few moments of rest as I switched between classes, but I was still pleased with myself.
I knew that I would not have much time to sneak in runs over the weekend, and was only working a half day at work on Friday since I had plans to head into manhattan with my brothers and cousin. When I got out of work I had a little time before the train, so I headed over to my parents house and hopped on the Peloton tread again. I could feel the weight of my legs after the previous days workout, so decided to take it easy, and jammed out to Bec’s 30 minute Spice Girls run. I got in just under 3 miles, and then got ready for the rest of my night. My cousin Jen was in town, so we took the train to the city and met up with my brother Kevin to go check out the new Harry Potter store, plus to grab a few drinks and dinner. My other brother Tommy, Jen’s husband Will, and Kevin’s girlfriend Sophie met us for dinner, and I had possibly the most delicious rigatoni ala vodka I have ever tasted. It was a great night, and it felt amazing to spend “normal” time with my family.
On Saturday I spent my morning cleaning and preparing the house for our first overnight guests – Jen and Will! They were driving over in the early afternoon, and then we were all heading to my cousin’s sweet 16. It was a day full of fun with family, and I tried not to stress about missing a few miles.
I did manage to get a run in on Sunday though – my plan called for a long run of 10 miles, and an early morning was not in the cards for me, so when it was time to run I opted for the treadmill over full sun and high humidity. I popped on a movie, and just took my time with the miles. What movie you wonder? Iron Man! It has been a few years since I watched through the MCU, so it felt like with all the time I have spent on treadmills lately, it would be a good time to re-start, so that I never have to think about what to put on when I opt for an inside run.
I was really happy with how my “quality” runs went this week, and I have high hopes that I will be able to keep this momentum running into next week.