Hey y’all! Coming in a little bit later than I had planned with this week’s recap. I’m on break from school this week (meaning I’m *just* working 8:30-5, so relaxing) and honestly am having a little bit of trouble making myself do anything in particular. I very much thrive off of being busy, which is why I love training for races, but sometimes I can swing over in the other direction when I need a break. Luckily this was actually a great week of training, despite my laziness!

I kicked things off with my usual Charles River loop and caught an incredible sunset. I love that as the days get longer I get these amazing city views and sunsets on my after-work runs. And while I’m generally a morning runner, I love having the flexibility to run after work if it works better for my schedule that day.

Tuesday I tackled a fun but challenging tempo workout. Coach Laura has been putting a number of half marathon paced tempos into my plan as I gear up for the New Bedford half in a couple of weeks, and I felt really strong during this one, hitting below my goal pace for all of my tempo miles. I am not necessarily aiming to PR at New Bedford (honestly, if my PR from the Cambridge half is my forever PR I’d be pretty damn happy), but I would like to break 1:40, which would mean an average of about 7:37/mile. We’ll see how things go!

Wednesday I nailed my goal from last week of committing to strength training with a tough 20 minute workout using resistance bands to add some intensity. These little suckers don’t look like much but the really up the ante in terms of basic strength moves like clamshells and leg raises! I also got a massage on Wednesday and definitely need to keep up with the at-home rolling to keep my back nice and loose.

Thursday and Friday were fairly uneventful, although it was really nice to run with J on Friday after work! He’s running the 15k at Sugarloaf (and he’s gonna CRUSH it)–it’s so cool to see him learning to like running and I’m hoping we can keep running together at least once a week during training.

In a crazy change of events from last weekend’s 70 degree run, this weekend was FRIGID, with temps in the teens. I procrastinated and pushed my long run off on Saturday but Sunday wasn’t much better–the wind was howling and the real feel was 1 degree when I started! I got through it, though, and nailed all my paces (see details below). I need to work on starting out slower during these kinds of workouts, because I was cooked by the end of 14 miles.

This week I’m STOKED for a 17 mile long run (yes, you read that right) because I’m heading out with friends to do our run as a point-to-point on the Boston course thanks to this cool free event hosted by Boston Road Runners! Boston runners, check it out 🙂

Week 5: 37 total miles

• Monday: 5.4 easy miles
• Tempo Tuesday: 1 up, 2 miles @half MGP (7:30, 7:19), 3 minutes easy, 2 miles at half MGP (7:23, 7:24), cooldown
• Wednesday: 20 minute banded strength circuit (similar here), 60 minute massage!
• Thursday: 5.1 easy hilly miles
• Friday: 60 minute yoga class, 5.6 easy miles with J
• Saturday:Rest
• Sunday: 14 hard miles! Workout was 6 up, 4 miles of 1 minute at half MGP/1 minute recoveries, 2 miles easy, and 2 miles fast finish.

Linking up with The Weekly Wrap (hosted by Hoho Runs and Miss Sippipiddlin) and with Eat Pray Run DC for her training recap linkup. Also, joining the Jess’s (Jess Runs ATL and The Right Fits) for their weekly recap linkup!