Training Report : 11/16 - 11/22

What a great week!  Not only did I get all of my runs in, but I also managed to cross train three days.  I love it when I get to try different activities to work different muscles, so this was a perfect week for me.  I also met up with a local training group for a speed session, and hit some paces that I didn't even know were possible for me!  

Another positive sign is that I ran completely pain free for half of my runs this week!  I spend a lot of extra time stretching out my hips and applying a heat pad for an hour each afternoon, and I'm feeling much better.  Thank you all for your well wishes- it definitely helped!  This coming week I have a race (the Turkey Trot), so I wanted to get in one final week of hard work before I take next week easy.  Here's how my week went:

Monday

3 miles / 26:56 / 8:58 pace

We still have gorgeous weather in Pittsburgh, so I was excited to get out for an easy three miler.  I stayed on trails to give my hip some rest, and it didn't bother me much.  A little sore and tender, but much better than last week!

Zumba

We did the same routine as last time, so it was fun to actually know the moves and enjoy the workout a bit more.  The hour seemed to fly by, and I left sweaty and tired!

Tuesday

5.43 miles / 45:32 / 8:23 pace

When I started this run, I had a really intense pain in my piriformis, and just about turned around.  After a few steps, though, the pain completely went away and the rest of the run felt great!  I ran my favorite route around Squirrel Hill and Shadyside, which I will never do at rush hour again.  Cars in this area are insane and don't pay attention to pedestrians, and I nearly got hit 4 times on Fifth Ave alone.  I'll be staying in more residential areas from now on, because I don't want to take that chance again!  Stay safe out there, friends!

Wednesday

5 miles / 37:54 / 7:34 pace

I ran with the training group from the True Runner 10 Miler program and we had a ladder workout on the schedule today.  I did a mile to warmup, then we did 1600, 1200, 800, 400, 2x200 meters.  I spent the entire workout chasing down some super fast people in the group, so my paces were insanely fast for me!  My mile splits were 7:05, 6:33, 5:25 which is faster than I've ever run before!  

I do have to mention that the overall time and pace is misleading because we had a break between each rep, so the total time of the workout was closer to 45 minutes.  This is also the first workout that I've been absolutely pain free, so I guess stretching and heat therapy worked! 

Thursday

1000 yard swim

Finally went back to the pool for a workout!  It's been way too long since I went for a swim, so I knew I had to get back.  I also have to develop a schedule for myself so that I know exactly when I can go and make it a habit!  I wanted to share the workout that I did because it was so much fun, and kept things challenging but interesting.  This is very beginner friendly, since I'm still a newbie!

My pool is 25 yards long, so each rep is one length down and back.  I liked switching up the stroke as well as working different muscles by using a kick board and buoy to isolate my legs or arms. When you repeat the exercises, you can also switch the stroke to breast stroke and butterfly to get even more muscles engaged.  If you try out this workout, let me know how you like it!

Friday

3 miles / 28:18 / 9:26 pace

I actually woke up early enough to run before work!  It seems like that hasn't happened in a long time, and I loved how peaceful everything was.  There wasn't really any wind chill at all, so the cool morning felt amazing.  I made sure to treat myself to a latte from Crazy Mocha at work for running before!

Saturday

8 miles / 1:43:00 / 11:46 pace

I joined Jennifer and her friend Anna at North Park for my long run of the week.  Jennifer wanted to run on a supposedly haunted road (Blue Myst Road - read some of the stories here!)  We didn't experience anything paranormal, but it was a pretty challenging and hilly course.  We ended up running down that road for about 2.5 miles and coming back to the parking lot, then running around the lake for the final 3 miles.  It was a gorgeous morning and the run flew by thanks to great conversation!

Sunday

4 miles (untimed)

I woke up not really feeling like running at all, so I decided just to do a few miles without a watch.  This was my first really chilly run of the season, and I even saw a few snow flakes!  

Rock Climbing

I'm actually heading out to go rock climbing this afternoon!  Planning on climbing for at least 2 hours and spending some time in the bouldering room, but I'll update how it went in my post on Monday!

linking up with Holly and Trisha