Charlevoix Half Training - Week 5

Monday
Supplemental Training: strength training, flexibility, core, and lots of foam rolling!

My right calf was still feeling a bit tight from Saturday's race so I was grateful to have another day off from running. I was pretty sure it was just a tight knot in the muscle that needed to be worked out, as opposed to being an actual injury. Overall I think I made the right decision in taking Sunday off.

Tuesday
Distance: 8.25
Pace: 9:01 average pace with 10 strides

After two days off I was ready to run! This run felt great! My calf did not bother me at all during or after the run.

Wednesday
Distance: 5.00
Pace: 9:49 recovery run

Thursday
Distance: 10.25
Pace: 9:17

Ugh. This. Run. Sucked. I ordered some new running shoes this week and they were delivered on Thursday. I ordered two pairs of the same shoes in size 9.5 and 10 so I could figure out which size fit better. The size 10s must have been mislabeled because they were SMALLER than the 9.5s. What the hell? My new shoes should be here this week and *fingers crossed* they will actually be the size I ordered.

So after spending 30 minutes on the phone trying to get that sorted out, I was all cranky when I left for my run. All I wanted was to finish my run and drink a beer, which wasn't likely to happen since the fridge was empty. Fortunately my husband managed to read my mind and picked up some beer AND made pizza while I was running. I love that man!

Friday
rest day

Saturday
Distance: 4.1
Pace: 9:57 recovery run
Supplemental: flexibility

Sunday
Distance: 15.25
Pace: 9:18

My long run felt great! I started my run at 6:30 am which allowed me to finish my run before 9, beat the heat/humidity, and I even got lucky and missed the downpour that started right after I finished my run. I started my run with a slow mile, around 10:00 pace, and then settled into 9:15-9:30 for most of the run. Since I was feeling awesome, I picked the pace up for the last four miles and ran all of them at a sub 9:00 pace.

Totals
Distance: 42.85 miles
Speed work: strides + fast finish
Supplemental: 2 flex, 1 core, 1 strength

In terms of running, this week was perfect. I easily managed to run the prescribed distance each day and I am quite please with where my paces have been landing. My long run average pace is a bit deceiving since the last four miles were significantly faster than the previous 11 miles (9:30 average pace compared to my last 4 mile splits of 8:51, 8:49, 8:43, 8:22). I would not typically expect a long run to be quite that fast...although the paces felt easy/comfortable. So perhaps my endurance has been improving over the past few months.

I still am slacking on the supplemental training. Core work really needs to be done 2-3 times per week. For this next week I am going to add it to my recovery run days, before the run, so I have zero excuses!