AR 50 Week Three

1/17-1/23

Week 3 of training brought with it my highest mileage week ever! I got in some quality runs, including a double digit run midweek and my first 3 hour run on the trails. I ended up with 40 miles for the week (a big jump from week two) and also surpassed the 100 miles mark for the month of January. Legs are feeling pretty strong, but man am I tired at the end of each day!

Monday
5.1 miles, 9:27 avg pace + 90 min hot yoga. Easy afternoon run, then headed straight to yoga! I think this workout combo is going to become a Monday tradition. Since I usually have the day off from work it's a lot easier to fit in two workouts. Plus it will be nice to stretch my muscles out in yoga after my long runs on Sundays.

Tuesday
10 miles, 9:37 avg pace. Midweek medium-long run, bumping things up from last week. Had planned on doing 9 but felt pretty good so I tacked on another one at the end. I think Tuesdays will be medium-long run days since I have the day off and can go in the late afternoon instead of getting up early and running in frigid temps!
 
Wednesday
Rest. Had hoped to either do a short, easy run or a Jillian sesh, but alas, it was not meant to be. I'm still working on building up to 6 days of running, but so far my body doesn't like to do more than 5 so we'll see...

Thursday
5 miles, 9:28 avg pace. Dragged my butt out of bed before work to squeeze in this run. Felt so much better the rest of the day!

Friday
Rest.

Saturday
6 miles, 9:10 avg pace. Had plans to go up to the trails but they fell through so I thought I'd fit in a longish run. When my alarm went off super early though 10 miles became 8, then 7, then finally 6 since that was all I had time for after snoozing the alarm so many times! I ran into a coworker half way through and realized I was running late so I hauled booty on the second half, going from running 9:30s to 8:30s to get home in time! Unplanned tempo run? I'll take it!

Sunday
14 miles, 13:34 avg pace. Didn't have to be at work til 11:30 so I took advantage of the later start and hit the trails early, hoping to finally get in a run on the trails longer than 2 hours. The drive up was unbelievably foggy, so much so that I couldn't see which way the lanes on the freeway turned! But as I got closer to Auburn I was met with a gorgeous sunrise : )

Diane and a few folks were running at 8, but I wanted to start a bit earlier so I met a coworker, Heather, at the Auburn Overlook at 7 and we headed out for a few miles. It was Heather's first trail run ever, so it was fun to show her how different it was from the roads! Just before we got back to our cars we ran into Diane, who had just headed out. So with just under 4 miles under my belt I said adios to Heather and headed right back out with Diane. We ran the same course as last week, winding along the American River Canyon and heading down to No Hands Bridge. We crossed the river then went another mile before turning around and heading back. That last mile was a long steady incline, but barreling down it the other way was great! I wore my new Camelbak hydration pack for the first time on a run and really loved it. It was so nice not to be holding a handheld the whole time and to be able to fit all my other stuff in there. I'll have a full review (along with info on some other goods) soon!

 American River Canyon

bridge shot: No Hands below, Foresthill Suspension above

my most hated hill

It was a gorgeous day which meant spectacular views, but I tried to refrain from taking too many pics so I would actually make it back to my car in time : ) I ran ahead of Diane on the way back and ran the majority of the rest solo since I was on a time crunch. As I made my way back I checked my Garmin and realized that I would only be at 13.5 miles when I got back to my car. My goal had been 14, since that would put me at 40 miles for the week - my highest mileage ever! I thought maybe I could add it on at the very end but I was already pushing for time so I had to head straight to work. The rest of the day the thought of that last half mile killed me, to the point that I wanted to just run down the street in the middle of work to get it in! Instead, when I got home after work the first thing I did was walk right back out the door with my Garmin and run around my block in my work clothes til it beeped 14. I know, I'm a freak!

blue skies : )

Total: 40.1 miles