Week 1 of the spring training cycle is complete, and unfortunately it was off to a rocky start. Like every January, traveling for work and training go hand in hand. Luckily this year, I only have a few days of travel, but they can still divert training. Sunday through Tuesday I drove over 350 miles and worked two trade shows, limiting my time to work out and tiring my feet and legs. Thankfully, I had the rest of the week to make up for it.

Monday- 1 Mile

Tuesday- 2.5 Miles

Wednesday-1 Mile

Thursday- 4 Miles

Friday- 0

Saturday- 7 Miles

Sunday- 4.2 Miles

Total Miles-19.7 Miles

Monday was a travel day, and I got back from Michigan just late enough to miss PiYo, but I did get my mile in for the streak. It took everything in me to run, especially with incredibly sore feet and legs. Tuesday was a planned track day, but no one could make it for our regular time, so I ran in my neighborhood instead. My feet felt shattered and my legs felt like bricks, and with every step I took, my legs hurt more and more. I forgot just how much working a show can wear down my legs.

Wednesday, we had a wedding appointment after work, so I knew I wouldn’t get much in, so just a mile for the streak. Thursday I had a tempo run on the schedule. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go on the indoor track, but somehow I found my groove. My first mile was 8:40 and by the last mile I was down to 8:01. I felt fast and confident, but I was still working hard.

Friday I broke the streak and I’m 100% ok with it. I lasted 22 days in a row, and I don’t regret skipping a day for a much needed night off. To be honest, I had been thinking of quitting all week. The days of just one mile runs to keep the streak alive starting to become junk miles, dreadful miles. Not only do my legs need a break once in a while, so does my mind.

Saturday was my first long run of the cycle and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I started out on 7 solo miles on the back roads. My pace was a bit all over the place, jumping to 8:3x going down hill, then jumping to 9:1x going uphill. I actually felt pretty good and tried not to focus on my watch as much as I used to. Somehow I kept a 9:00 average pace, and surprisingly felt amazing the whole time.

Sunday, after a fun MCRR banquet, I met up with Mallory and Mo for some snowy trails of Buckeye Woods. This was definitely treated as a recover run, and even though the ground was a bit tough to run on, it was still great to get out there.

A rough start, a broken streak, but three amazing runs to make up for the bumps along the way. I’m certainly feeling good about this training cycle!