Week in review Aug. 1-7: A few hot runs

Run, and lift, and run some more.

Last week was a good one. My focus on smart, strategic running, complemented with lifting weights, is going well: I ran four times and lifted weights twice. Yay!

This every-other-day running schedule is working for me so far. I’m still getting in decent mileage, although admittedly my pace is way off. But I’m not signed up for anything right now, so speed is a secondary goal. Plus, my IT bands seem to be behaving, knock wood.

I didn’t do much cross-training, though. I only got on the bike once, to warm up for my second weight workout. I didn’t get to the pool. I wanted to get some yoga in Sunday night, but just ran out of time after spending the evening in the kitchen trying to cook ahead for the week.

By the numbers, it was:

Bike: Just one 15-minute warmup on the trainer.

Run: Four times, all on the road, for 29 total miles in about 4 hours, 48 minutes. This is the most running mileage I’ve done in a week since my October marathon; not counting the marathon, it was my best mileage week since September of last year. I feel like I am finally, finally, feeling stronger in my running again.

I don’t think I’ll be doing a fall marathon. Yesterday I did a “long” run of 12 miles and while I felt pretty good, it was still challenging enough without adding additional distance needed for a marathon build. Plus, I’m kind of enjoying not having to dedicate an entire day to a long run and recovery. I might do a fall or winter half for fun. We’ll see.

Weights: One barre class (I’m not sure why I get so excited for these when I know they are painful!) and one heavy/body weights routine at home while watching the Olympics: pullups, pushups, shoulder presses, etc. I added a couple new abs moves and I was definitely feeling it afterward. Total, this was about 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Overall: Seven sessions in about 7 hours, 18 minutes.

Of course, I've had better weeks, but considering where I'm at, I'm very happy with how the week shook out.

Notas bene:

1. Go USA! I'm making sure to keep up on my favorite Olympic sports: Beach volleyball, tennis, triathlon, swimming, gymnastics, etc. I MAY have stayed up past my bedtime last night watching swimming.

2. I'm going on vacation next week and may get a few runs in, but I'm very sure I won't do much else. I'm trying to squeeze everything in this week so I can relax next week.