The third week of training is done, and I think the intensity and quick jump back into running is catching up with me. I gave it all I had for each workout this week and while I didn’t quite hit my total mileage, I feel strong with where I’m at.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 5.5 Miles, 1 Mile W/U, 3×1600 w/400 recovery (7:59, 7:39, 7:34), 1 Mile C/D

Wednesday: 5 Miles

Thursday: 4.5 Miles

Friday: 0

Saturday: 9 Miles + Core

Sunday: 0

Total Miles: 24 Miles

Tuesday I was finally back on the track and it felt so good to be there. I had mile repeats, which I haven’t done in a long time, so I wasn’t sure what times I’d be able to run. I was hoping for around 8:00 minutes but would adjust if I felt that was too fast. I was somehow able to negative split my three mile repeats, and didn’t feel horrible once I was done. Hopefully I can bring my time down closer to 7:30 for all repeats and see my 5k times drop over the next couple of months.

I stopped by Bonnie Park on my way home on Wednesday. I haven’t been there in almost two years, so it was nice to have a change of scenery. I decided to stick along the parkway and headed North. I was only planning on 4 miles, but I felt great and ran 2.5 miles before turning around. Even though I was supposed to be running a recovery run, my legs didn’t want to go above a 9 minute pace. I was able to keep four of the five miles at sub 9 and my final mile was sub 8:30. It must have been the flat ground that made me so speedy!

Thursday was Second Sole group run and I almost missed it due to traffic. Luckily I got there in time to join the group for a 4.5 mile run from the store to Roscoe Ewing Park and back. We took it at an easy pace and for once the hills in the park didn’t seem so bad. My legs were tired and a little tight towards the end, so more stretching, compressing and foam rolling is needed in between runs.

I originally thought of racing the 10 for Them 10 Miler on Saturday, but opted out since I wasn’t registered, and didn’t love the idea of racing 10 miles yet. So instead, Mo, Mallory and I met up in the afternoon to do our run. We had a nice window of no rain, but some pretty decent humidity. We ran a few of the developments, including some steep hills and ended up with 8 miles. My legs were exhausted, and I was ready to call it for the day. But, I couldn’t help but think of that last mile that I know I needed, so I slogged through one final mile on my own. It wasn’t pretty, but I got it done. Even with the humidity and hills, I still felt pretty good. I tested out Honey Stinger Chews again, and had no issues during or after my run. Looks like I’ll be sticking with them for the next few long runs.

Week Three Thoughts:

I’m starting to feel the effects of higher than normal mileage. Going from a running rut to my training plan, my mileage has jumped from 10 miles to almost 30 miles a week. I’m also running 4-5 days a week, where I was doing 3-4 days before. I know I’m still not getting enough sleep, which is definitely bringing me down on some of my back to back days. I need to work on getting more sleep, and taking my recovery runs at a recovery pace.