This week was a horrible week for training, my worst one of the cycle. Going into the week, I planned on at least four workouts. When it was said and done, only two runs and one cross training workout happened.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 0

Wednesday: 4 Miles

Thursday: 5 Miles, 1 Mile W/U, 6xHill Repeats (½ mile each), 1 Mile C/D

Friday: 0

Saturday: 0

Sunday: SUP Yoga

Total Miles: 9 Miles

My first run of the week wasn’t until Wednesday. Not ideal, but that’s ok. I was supposed to do a track workout, but I just wasn’t feeling it. It was one of those days where you just want to run without thinking or planning or focusing on hitting certain paces. So I went out and just ran. I did an out and back in a development I’ve never run before. My mind was focused on the run itself and nothing else, which was exactly what I needed.

Thursday I was finally able to make it to a Second Sole Group run, but it turns out that run group was canceled for the night. I thought of going home and running in my development, but since I was already in town I figured I’d drive out to my favorite hill and do some repeats. I started with a mile warm up and worked my way up the hill six times before calling it.

The first three felt pretty good, but like always, number 4 was the hardest. I managed to get to six, but my legs were burning. The mix between gradual and steep on the Reserve hill always gets me.

I had planned on doing my long run on Saturday, but instead, woke up feeling sick to my stomach at 4am. I’m now going to add sushi to the list of things not to eat before a long run. After going back to bed and taking it easy all morning, I was finally feeling better by noon, but at this point, it was way too hot to attempt my long run.

Sunday morning was out for a long run because I had plans to try SUP Yoga for the first time. We signed up for this class a while ago, but by the time it got here, I was incredibly nervous. My balance is not great, and I really can’t swim, so I was definitely out of my comfort zone. The class started at 8 with some basic how to info on Stand Up Paddle boarding, followed by about an hour of yoga out on the lake. Hinckley Lake was beautiful and it really was the perfect weather for yoga. I was a little timid with my paddle boarding, but I eventually got the hang of it. My yoga form on the other hand was less than stellar. I was so afraid of falling in the water that I was incredibly stiff and modified a few poses. But once we sat down and had most of our body close to the board, I was ok. I even worked up enough confidence to do wheel pose. Don’t ask me how though. Overall, it was a fun experience. I’d love to try it again, and especially do some more SUP.

Week Six Thoughts:

• My mileage was way off this week. Part of it was due to schedule, part of it was unseen issues that popped up. But even though I didn’t get my long run in, I was still able to get a hill workout in, which is something I know I need to work on. This past week is done, and now it’s a fresh start to begin a new training mileage and focus on those miles.
• I’m really glad I tried SUP. It was certainly a new experience, but I really enjoyed it once I started to relax. There’s such a difference between yoga on a mat on solid ground compared to a small board on open water. I think this is a great way to cross train during summer and makes me miss practicing real yoga.