Week in review April 12-18: Hills and long runs

Not a shabby week at all.

I may have gone a smidge too hard on the runs last week. I snuck out of work early on Friday and drove to a hillier ("hillier" for southeast Michigan means 235 feet of elevation vs. 47 feet of elevation) route, and I went for 10.5 miles on Sunday. My legs were definitely feeling it by Sunday afternoon.

But, it was OK. After an easy weekend last week following my second COVID shot, I didn't think it was anything I couldn't handle. I was able to keep a decent pace for both my speed run and my long run, my knee behaved, and I had good weather. It was all I could hope for.

Trainer riding wasn't anything special last week. It was a rough week and I decided to push my planned FTP test back a week. Everything else went fine; I did all my usual weights, PT, and yoga. Boring, but it gets the job done.

Overall, it was:

Bike: Four times, all on the trainer, for 75 fake trainer miles in about 4:39.

Run: Three times, all on the road, for 26 miles in about 4:05. This was an easy run moved to Tuesday to take advantage of good weather, a few hilly repeats at a FAST-for-me pace (anything that begins with a 7 is fast for me these days), and a 10.5-miler on Sunday. I probably should have spread out the speed and long runs a bit more, but eh. I got them done and am no worse for the wear.

PT/Pre-hab: Six times, three mobility and three running PT, for about 3:45.

Weights: Three times: one core, one barre app, and one heavy body; for about 2:45. I'm still going with the core Mondays. They're still hard but I'm feeling stronger.

Yoga: Three times, all via the Down Dog app, for 45 minutes total.

Total: 19 sessions in a hair less than 16 hours.

Nineteen sessions in about 15-16 hours seems to be my sweet spot for a good week. I'm still not swimming, and I'm back to work full time, but this seems to be working for me, for now. I'm going to stick with it.

I did sign up for a virtual 5K/half marathon combo to be done within the next 2-3 weeks. I've never actually raced an open half marathon (I've done seven marathons, one half at the end of a 70.3, one pacing my husband, and one as part of a 30-mile, 4-race weekend), but I am feeling pretty good about my runs lately that I think I could do well even virtually. If nothing else, it'll be a nice distraction as I support a local race business.

Hope you all are staying safe and maybe getting in those virtual races.