Week in review Oct. 16-22: Finally, some stuff other than running

Great running, a decent bike session, a decent weights session.

Although I had to take two days off my regular training last week, I still managed a decent showing. Not only did I get in lots of good and long running, I also managed a Saturday trainer ride and weight lifting session. It wasn't a WHOLE lot of stuff, but I was feeling pretty badass by the end of the week.

My in-laws were in town Monday and I had to catch up on food prep, since the Freep marathon a week ago Sunday meant I couldn't do my usual grocery shopping that day. And on Thursday I took a kung fu self-defense class, which, while very interesting, wasn't a real workout (at least for me). I made up for lack of training those two days with solid workouts the other five.

It worked out to be:

Run: 4 times, all on the road, for 32 miles in a bit longer than 5 hours. Tuesday and Wednesday were nice, easy runs, which felt pretty effortless in the cool air. Friday's run felt even more amazing. I ticked off multiple miles in 9:09, which is the pace needed for a 3:59:59 marathon, my ultimate goal. It was enough to get me thinking, hmmm, are there any spring marathons coming up? But marathon training in the winter... ugh. I also went up and down the sledding hill a total of 14 times that run, one more than the time before.

Sunday I went out for 12.5 miles, my first double-digit run in more than three months. I wasn't 100% sure I could do it, so I stayed close to home, just in case. The first hour felt good but I was starting to feel it in my bad knee and my hips. I considered heading home, but decided to try to tough it out. I was hurting more by mile 10 but there was no way I wouldn't finish the two hours and I did. I was glad to see I had those miles still in me, and I got to see some beautiful trees changing colors.

Bike: Just once on the trainer, for 1.5 hours on Saturday while watching college football and catching up on my magazines.

Weights: Another badass alert. I just did one round of my usual home body/heavy weight workout. But for some reason I was just ON today. I can do a few standing pull-ups and a few standing chin-ups, but the hanging versions have eluded me. I've had to use bands for an assist... until Saturday. I managed two sets of two hanging chin-ups and two sets of one hanging pull-up, and made it halfway up on the third go-round for each. I was thrilled! I also managed to bump up weight for a few other moves and bang out 10 pushups with my feet up one step. Woo!

Total: 6 sessions in almost 8 hours.

Not great, not terrible, a few gains here and there. A solid week and nothing to complain about. I'll take it.