It's been an interesting week so far... Training Updates

I'm getting ready for my long holiday weekend.....  I can't really talk about my place of employment (it's not that kind of blog)  but, I will say that we observe the Jewish holidays and I will be observing about  a month of shortened work weeks!! (Yay!!)
In addition to hanging out with my kids and getting caught up on housework; I plan on doing some long runs during my vacation time.  This week has been sort of a step down week mileage wise.  However I'm finding it kind of hard to take a full rest day... More on that later..

Training Updates Since my Last Post  

Saturday 9/5: 14.5 miles

14.5 miles by strava or 14.3 by Garmin

I tried not to think about the distance, during the first few miles, because 14 miles seems far mentally. I ate my first date at around 45 minutes in and my second date at 1 hour. Between mile 10-11 I stopped briefly at at a gas station. I refilled my hand held bottle with ice and I bought a banana. I ran and ate my banana over the next mile and it really hit the spot. Too bad they don't pack as well as an energy gel.  14.5 miles 2:02:47 moving time 2:06:18 elapsed time. Here's the data

I tried not to eat my face off the rest of the day...  But I'm really digging homemade tortillas right now!!

Sunday 9/6 4 miles.  This was a recovery effort run/hike.  I woke up feeling pretty sore.  Normally I wold take a rest day, but I felt that my legs would benefit from a short run to get some of the lactic acid out.  It also didn't hurt that my mother in law was in town and I had an extra set of hands to help with the kids.... I live in Las Vegas, and when you think of Las Vegas, often people will think of the strip... I live near the mountains, and this view is such a nice juxtaposition from the strip.

It was pretty warm outside, but the views were spectacular.

Monday 9/7 6 Miles.  I'm a creature of habit, and I enjoyed my trail run so much, that I went back into the same area to explore some more.....

Tuesday 9/8 Cross Training-  I flip flopped my x-training day...  I ended up doing some circuit training.

I did three circuits:
1st set 
Flat bench press with bar
One Arm Rows
Hamstring dead lifts with dumb bells
Step ups on to a bench with a knee lift

2nd set 
Sit ups
Back Extensions
Back Flys
Step ups onto a bench with a back leg raise
Around the Worlds for Chest

3rd Set 
35 pound EZ-Curl Bar was used for the following exercises:
Bicep Curls
Shoulder Rows
Shoulder Presses
Squats
Single Leg Lunges

Then I did a little bit of stretching.

Wednesday 9/9  Two a day... I was supposed to run 7 miles at lunchtime.  But, I didn't want to run on the treadmill.  I ran 2.4 miles in the morning at recovery pace, and at lunch time I did a tempo run.  I ran 1 mile warm up 3 miles at half marathon pace and 1 mile cool down.

The first mile was uphill the next three miles were gentle rolling hills, and the last mile was downhill This was supposed to be a goal marathon pace workout, but I didn't want to run this on the treadmill and with the heat I should have tried to slow the tempo down. I was hurting during the last tempo mile. I stopped my watch briefly before I started the workout to stretch my hammies and quads. After the run, I stretched for a few minutes.   Here's the data

Thursday 9/10-4 miles in the blazing heat midday....I ended up taking a tumble during the last mile. I was running over a freeway overpass, I underestimated a piece of road debris (a stray wire loop) my feet got tangled and I fell. It wasn't as bad as my fall from last Feb. (Thank god) but I still scrapped up my hands and when I fell I heard my vertebrae crack... I'm okay. I just hope I'm not too sore. tomorrow.  Sometimes I think I am super human and I do stupid things..... I shouldn't have even gone outside yesterday, it was really hot.  I also shouldn't have ran over a busy overpass...  I'm lucky that I didn't injury myself any worse than I already did.   My neck and back felt a little sore but, it could have been much worse.

After my run, I also did some strength training (upper and lower body)

Friday 9/11 5.5 Miles-  I did a easy run at recovery pace this morning.  I started out in Cornerstone park and then I headed up the hill.  Yesterday my new waist pack arrived in the mail!

This pack is very similar to my Nathan waist pack that bit the dust a few weeks ago.... I like that this is a smaller waist pack designed for a female.  But, I took it for a test run, and it bounced around quite a bit...   I will have to take it on a few more test runs, before I can give it a fair review.

Rest Days

Last year, and earlier this year I was pretty adamant about two rest days a week.  Since I have started base building my rest days are now down to one day a week, and I will usually do weights on that rest day.... 

I don't see this being a permanent thing.  I'm about 11 weeks away from the Deja Vu marathon, so that means I have 8 more weeks until I taper.  I'm trying to sock away as many miles as I can (within reason)  That and I think once your body gets used to running more mileage, you begin to crave more miles....  

I have one longish run this weekend (8-10 miles) but, I've already started to think about my upcoming 16 miler next Wednesday.

Well that's all I have for now.  Thanks for reading.