weekly training update #7

The theme of (the first half of) this week was lethargy.  I was sore, tired, and worn out.  I'll blame my period and the spike in humidity, but who knows.  I was feeling slow and worn out.

Then by Thursday, I was a mess.  My quads were so sore I could barely make it up and down stairs.  When I tried running, my calves ached and felt really tight.  I planned a 4 mile tempo run, but after my 1 mile warm up I decided to call it quits and let myself rest.

Saturday my long run plan was 8 miles, but I overslept and by the time I got started I was short on time ... plus it was heating up!  I was up in DC again so I returned to the Mt. Vernon Trail.  This time I decided to run north, into Old Town.  I wanted to go see the monuments and whatnot, but I didn't realize quite how far it was from the place I parked.  Oops.  So, I ran 3 miles north into Old Town, and juuust as I was about to near the airport, it was time to turn around.  On the way back I ran closer to the water (rather than just down the main street), so at least I got to spice things up!

The long run felt SO HARD, so when I managed to finish 6.5 miles at a 10:01 pace I was fairly surprised!  This run started rough and apparently (according to my splits) got much easier as it went... my splits were: 10:46, 10:39, 10:16, 10:04, 9:06, 9:23, 9:41(0.5).

Hopefully having a relatively light week in terms of mileage and speedwork will lead to a better week ahead! I'm now less than a month away from the Raleigh Half, so I'm starting to think about what a reasonable time goal would be.

In compleeeeeeetely unrelated news, today my phone had a date with a bowl of tomato soup.  I'm working on drying it out right now, but I may have to replace it tomorrow.  Womp womp.  I'm thinking about whether or not to join the Smart Phone world... any advice out there?  I have Verizon, so I am debating between an iPhone and a Droid.  Opinions?

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Recap:
Monday 10/1: Easy run, 3.1 miles, avg. pace 11:36... recovering from that baller 12.8 mile run!
Tuesday 10/2: spin class + strength
Wednesday 10/3: Easy run, 2.6 miles, avg. pace 11:26... super humid, super tired, cramps
Thursday 10/4: SORE.  Tried to run.  Made it one mile and decided that some days, you gotta listen to your body and rest.
Friday 10/5: Rest day
Saturday 10/6: 6.5 mile "long" run, avg. pace 10:01... speedy!
Sunday 10/7: Rest day