Tuesday’s 5 mi of speed intervals almost brought me to my knees.

With only FOUR WEEKS until show time, things are really starting to seem surreal in my training. I’m still putting in a decent number of miles at this point, but the way the miles are scheduled makes it a bit easier on my body to work hard when I need to. I’m able to conserve the energy for quality mid-week speed interval, pace and hill interval runs on a ‘recovery week’ where my long run was only 12 miles (only!), then next week when I hit my biggest, longest, most intimidating training run – a 20 miler – my mid-weeks runs are a lot less taxing. That allows me the chance to save some energy for the ‘big one’ at the end of the week. So without further ado, here is my success for this past week:

Sunday: Rest day. Yeah, I’m guessing lounging by the pool reading a book doesn’t count for cross training. So I’ll call it what it is. And what I needed after Saturday’s 19 miles.

Monday: Cross training on the bike, 30 min. As you probably have guessed, I’m not nearly as into the cross training as I should be. I was still feeling a bit drained from Saturday’s run, so I didn’t go nuts on the bike at the gym. I did level 7-8 for a total of 30 min, which was about 65% of my maximum heart rate. I promise, I left there with sweaty clothes!

Water was shut off after I finished 8 miles on Wednesday.

Tuesday: 5 mi, speed intervals. Holy moly! This was one of the weeks where the speed intervals did NOT come easy (see last week). I thought to change my running plan for the day after the first set of Yasso 800’s, but ended up pushing through to do five cycles. I had to fight for the last two faster intervals, by the way. Then with about 0.35 miles left to reach 5 mi, I dropped the pace to an easy 6.4 mph. Dripping sweat, I left the gym and proceeded to drink two litres of water when I got home. It’s not that I was really dehydrated; it’s more that I sweat a ridiculous amount. I’m sure the folks at the water company appreciate my business.

Wednesday: 8 mi pace run (6.8 mph). Got it done and felt good. Then I got back home to find the water had been turned off in our whole condo complex for repairs – from 11am until 4pm. Considering I was dripping sweat from every pore in my body, with rivulets of sweat running down my leg from my saturated clothes, I had to find an alternative way to rinse off. Thank goodness we have a pool here!

Alternate plan: jump in the pool to rinse off. The amount of chlorine in there would kill any sweaty smell from the run!

Thursday: 5 mi, 6.3mph, hills level 1. OK, not my most inspiring run, but I was not wanting to go full force since I had the 12 miles the following day. I think this was the last week for both speed intervals and hills, as I need to ensure my legs will be 100% for race day. No sense in getting hurt or straining my body (legs) at this stage of the game! The focus for now is to complete a strong 20 miler next week, then truly allow myself the break from intense running so I am rested and ready for October 25th.

Friday: 3.1 mi, 6.4 mph. This was meant to be my long run day (12 mi) but the legs were just not having it. From the moment I got on the treadmill, everything felt wrong, legs were heavy and my one hip was just ‘uncomfortable.’ I also think that the idea of running on the treadmill again was mentally too much for me today, when I’m really just so excited about getting off the island.

Oh, and I guess the extra glass (or two) of wine I had last night probably didn’t help. So yeah, lots of excuses today, and some days you just need to throw in the towel and regroup for another day. I have that 20-miler next week that I can’t skip out on, so at least the ‘blahs’ hit me on a low mileage week.

To compensate a little, I ended up doing some weights for my arms, back and shoulders. Pushing myself in different ways.

Running by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament last October.

Saturday: Leaving on a jet plane! Can’t wait to have some new running scenery – no treadmill for me next week! It will be glorious for no other reason than I get to run in London! And the promise of a pint of beer at the pub after my runs certainly is pretty awesome, too!

TOTAL MILES FOR THE WEEK: 21.1 miles