Week in review Jan. 30-Feb. 5: A maximally efficient weekend to focus on running long

Run run run, run run run.

I’m getting into a routine of starting off the week easy and building the intensity. Since I’m doing back-to-back long runs on Saturday and Sunday, Mondays have been for either rest or yoga, the last couple of Tuesdays have been easy runs, and Wednesdays and Thursdays have been moderate weight routines or runs with a bit of speed to them. I haven’t worked out yet on a Friday this year, but that’s OK because those have been reserved for movie-watching with my husband.

With the Super Bowl last night (being a Detroit resident, I’ll probably never have a vested interest in the game), and a friend’s party to attend, I knew I would have to find another time for my usual Sunday evening food-prep routine. My solution was to organize the whole weekend with military precision, giving top priority to both runs and fitting in everything else around them. The end result was that everything that needed to get done, got done; every mile that needed to be run, was run; and no one went hungry.

Saturday: Up early. Farmer’s market. Brunch out with a friend. Grocery shopping. Grocery organizing. 10 miles on the treadmill (it was cold). Dinner. Prep a crock pot dinner for Sunday and bake/make some fun stuff to eat.

Sunday: Up early. Breakfast. More food prep: breakfast for the next few days and a veggie tray for the Super Bowl party. 15 miles outside (it was a bit warmer). Eat crock pot dinner while prepping salads for tomorrow’s lunch. Go to Super Bowl party! Ignore game and commercials, play with friends’ kids. Try unsuccessfully to cajole friends’ kids into eating the carrots you chopped. Try not to fall asleep. Head home because the game is boring. Check on game. Stay up to watch the surprise comeback.

I had to sacrifice a bit of sleep and relaxation but I am feeling a LOT better about the quadruple race weekend now that I have a 10-miler and 15-miler under my belt. And really, I only have one more big weekend before a cutback weekend and the races. Next weekend should be a lot less busy anyway with fewer sports-related activities.

By the numbers, it was:

Run: Four times, three times on the treadmill and once on the road, for 37 miles in a bit longer than 6 hours. WOW. This is a lot of running. I was definitely feeling some discomfort in my tailbone/glute/hamstring by the end of my long run yesterday, but when I focused on running carefully and gently, it was less uncomfortable.

I’m also 99% sure that the 25 miles is the most I’ve ever run over two days, not counting my marathons. Even when I was training for a 70.3 and a marathon at the same time I’d alternate between 2/20 and 6/12. So, although I a little stiff and sore today, I’m reminding myself that I’m not this sore after “only” running 15 miles, I’m this sore because I ran 10 miles followed by 15 miles.

Weights: One 55-minute video. This is about as good as it’s going to get until March, at least.

Yoga: One solo session of about 20 minutes. I should have gotten in at least one more session, but I was already cramming so much into the week. Maybe instead of chopping veggies no one ate I could have been stretching then? Ha!

Total: 6 sessions in about 7 hours, 20 minutes.

Of course, I'm limited by hours in the day, but I feel like I'm making progress prepping for my big race. There will be lots more running in the next few weeks, and by then maybe I'll be thinking about the next big race.