Training Update - 66 miles/week and an upcoming 5k!

Training has been going great! It helps that we have had a much-warmer-than-normal February. It has been sunny 35-45 degrees, and the snow has almost disappeared!

I’ve been steadily increasing my mileage and intensity and last week hit 66 miles on 6 days. Jerry said that I can look forward to 100 mile weeks in April already. That’s exciting but also perplexing, as it seems like I’m running an awful lot already to just hit mid-60s! Where would I add another THIRTY FIVE miles in my week?

I know it will come gradually and I’ll just add here and there, and voila- one day I’ll be thinking: JUST 66 miles/week? Wow, that was nothing!

Wa-hoo! You can follow me on Strava – search for me here.

I had a great 1000m workout with Jeff. We both were pretty quiet before the workout. Our conversation was more clipped and awkward than normal. I could tell that I was just trying to process another 1k workout (it’s hard to forget that awful puking/body totally wrecked feeling I had after the last 1k effort). Before we started I silently told myself that we would do the warm-up and that I could probably convince Jeff just to run easy instead of the repeats.

But, once we did the warm-up, we both put our heads down and pushed for everything we had!

3:54

3:51

4:00 (oops)

3:53

I averaged 3 seconds faster per repeat than 3 weeks ago. Yay! Progress! I still have a long way to go, but know that I can only improve slowly – one day at a time.

This week will be another mid-60 week. Workouts have been:

Monday: Double of 12, lifting class with Nate and the YMCA. I am going to try to make lifting on Monday evenings a priority. If my mileage is going to steadily increase, I need to be strong enough to handle it! Plus, honestly, I just love feeling strong! I really do like lifting, it’s just so easy for me to skip it!

How I usually spend my evenings – instead of doing strength work 🙂

Tuesday: 10 miles with 10x100m. I did this with Craig, and for the first time in MY ENTIRE LIFE, I was ahead of him on a lot of these. He is still in full-on ski mode so turnover is a little lacking. It made me feel good about myself – so thank you, Craig! 🙂

Wednesday: off. Home with Anna after she threw up late in the day Tuesday at daycare.

Thursday: 8 miles easy, strides afterwards. A slight taper because… I’ll be racing a 5k as an open athlete at the U of MN’s home meet on Saturday! YIKES!

Friday: 5-6 miles easy, strides afterwards.

Saturday: 5k at the U of MN! OMG. What was I thinking? 🙂

I entered a seed time of 20:00, as I have absolutely no idea where I’m at. Jerry said my 1ks added up to 19:30. I looked back at the 2015 Halloween 5k I did 3.5 months after starting running during inpatient treatment at Beauterre. I figure that is about similar to where I’m at now… I ran a 20:47 for that 5k and was stoked. I think if I could be close to 20 minutes on Saturday I would be ecstatic!

I tried on my race singlet and it… fits. Sort of. I don’t look like a sausage in it, so that’s good. Now, which box did we stash my racing flats in?

I’m only partly freaking out. It will be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to knowing where I’m at fitness-wise. Sara C, one of my athletes, is racing with me, and my Gustie women will be there at the meet as well!

Your turn: Any guesses on a finish time? Closest guess to actual time (either over or under) wins! No prize on the line, other than the pride of guessing well 🙂