flex·i·ble

This past week of of training didn't quite go as planned. I had some scheduling conflicts that required me to rework my running plans, and while they weren't all done exactly according to the plan, pretty much all of them got done. Reflecting back on the week, I see how important flexibility is with training plans. As I mentioned before, I like seeing on paper what workout I have planned for the day and the rest of the week, but as we all know life happens, and things can't and don't always go according to plan. With that said, a quick recap of training week 3:

Monday evening I went out for 4 miles with my pup, and Tuesday I upped the miles to 6. Due to scheduling conflicts I had to switch my usual Wednesday 4 mile/NMTZ workout with Thursday's hills. This week I had 4xhill (8 repeats on my half-hill), and man oh man was that extra hill repeat a challenge! For whatever reason I was pretty tired throughout the whole workout.

Thursday I used as a rest day, and ran 4 on Friday. I had plans to watch a movie Friday night so I went out a little earlier in the evening than usual, which ended up being a big mistake. After a hot day in the triple digits it hadn't cooled down that much. I also started out much faster than I should have in the heat, and after about a mile both myself and my pup were hurting. I pushed on, but on the last mile I had to intersperse walk breaks for my dog's sake just as much as my own. I was definitely overheated and was a bit nauseous for a while after I finished.

Although Saturday is usually reserved for my long run, I had a whole day full of other mandatory activities, so I took Saturday as another rest day and moved my long run to Sunday. Saturday night my parents and I went to see the Steve Miller Band in concert and had a fantastic time! They definitely put on a damn good show.

My folks and I before the concert.

Steve Miller Band!

Sunday I managed to drag myself out of bed, still feeling the consequences of the previous late night, but much later than my alarm had been set for. As a result I didn't start my run until almost 9am, and by then it was already pretty warm out. Since San Francisco is in just a week (!!) it was only a taper "long" run of 11. I was exhausted from the start and not quite into it mentally, so it wasn't the most enjoyable run. I manged a decent 10:35 pace, taking water breaks here and there to combat the heat. I ended up doing my last few miles around McKinley Park like a couple weeks ago and then just having my mom pick me up. I think for some reason I'm having trouble, psychologically, running back to my house on long runs! I actually have yet to do it : )

My pup peeking out before my long run, hoping she could come along : (

p.s. Thanks for letting me vent in my previous post about my job dilemma, and thanks for the advice! I have made a decision that I'm happy with and will post more soon!