Gettysburg Marathon Training : Week 5

What a great week!  Last week was my "step-down" week and I only ran 13 miles thanks to travel and house hunting issues.  Sometimes life gets in the way of training, so when I got a week full of great weather and no commitments, I had to take advantage of it!  

This is one of those weeks that really builds up confidence.  I had a really speedy (for me) track workout with a local running group, solid cross training, excellent long run, and higher mileage during my mid-week runs.  I don't usually grade my weeks of training, but this one definitely deserves an A+!  Let's get into the details!

monday

5 miles / 44:10 / 8:49 pace

The weather has been so beautiful lately that I decided to run commute home from work!  It was a perfect day out, and the run went by surprisingly quickly.  I usually struggle on runs home, but this one wasn't bad at all.  

tuesday

Group Core

This is a new class offered at my gym, and I love it!  It's a thirty-minute workout that's all about the core.  I'll be writing a more in-depth post about it, but I've really been enjoying it and seeing huge improvements.

wednesday

6 miles / 47:10 / 7:51 pace

I was finally able to join True Runner for the Wednesday track workout!  This week's workout was a ladder workout.  1 mile warm-up, followed by 1600 meters, 1200 meters, 2 x 800 meters, 4 x 400 meters, 1 mile cool-down.  I felt great on this run, and my splits were fantastic!  The mile time was 6:55, and the 4x400 was at 6:41.  Amazing run!

thursday

Group Power

Great workout as always!  I'm starting to move up in weight on some exercises, so I know that I'm getting stronger week by week.  We started a new routine this week as well that was pretty challenging!

friday

3 miles / 28:40 / 9:33 pace

This was my mom's birthday, and we had plans to go out after work for dinner.  I knew that my only option to run that day was to go before work, and I actually woke up early and did it!  This was the first time in months that I actually ran before work so I was really proud of myself.  It was chilly, but so calm and relaxing out.  I definitely miss those early morning runs and hope to get back into that soon!

saturday

4 miles / untimed

I wasn't feeling too great, so I just went out for an easy, untimed, unplugged run.  I think it's great to have runs like that when you can just relax and not care about pace.  I felt a lot better after finishing this run, so I think I just needed an easy day and some fresh air!

sunday

15 miles / 2:23:02 / 9:32 pace

This was such a great run!  Dan and I spent the morning looking at houses, and I ended up going out for my run a lot later than I was originally hoping.  I expected a horrible, sluggish run, but I felt surprisingly great.  I tested out a new pair of Pure Flows that I picked up that morning, which were really comfortable and made a big difference.  They did cut into my toes a bit, so it probably wasn't a great idea to test them on a long run.  

I also had a bit of an upset stomach during the run, so I didn't eat as much fuel as usual.  I had one Medjool date (eaten piece by piece for the first half of the run), a bit of Honey Stinger gel at mile 10, salt tab, and a ton of water.  It was a bit warmer than I'm used to (in the 50's and sunny) so I was chugging the water!  I think my nausea had to do with not hydrating enough throughout the day, so that's something I'll work on for next time.  Overall, my legs felt great the entire time, which is what I'm mostly concerned with!  

How was your week?

What race are you training for?

How was the weather in your area last week?
What grade would you give yourself for the week?

linking up with Holly, Tricia and Katie