Workouts this week: Sept. 4-10

Here's a recap of my week in fitness:
Did my longest run to date and it was awesome (see Saturday).

Monday: Race
Ran a 5k race. Super happy with my time. Ran a mile cool down. And then had the rest of the day off.

I REALLY wanted a Chick-Fil-A biscuit as my reward for the race. I drove to Chick-Fil-A, but they didn't open until 10:30 a.m. because of the holiday. BOO.

I had a Keba sandwich and fries as my cheat lunch.

Tuesday: Easy miles
I ran five miles before work today. It's later and later until the sun rises, so I have to start later and later. I don't want to sprain my ankle on a dark trail. And there's only so much a head lamp does. For this run, sun rise was at 7:10 a.m. and I probably could have started running at around 6:44 (civil twilight. New term). I went to the IM Fields. And just as I was about to start running, the 30+ runners on the UGA cross country team came speeding my way. I waited until they passed and ran the opposite way. Even at 6:55, the trails seemed awfully dark, so I headed on the road.

I've been seeing the cross country team a lot lately. And I ran into them maybe 3 more times on this run. I think we were doing opposite loops. Though I was doing easy miles and they were really pushing. I ran into them at the bottom of the first hill by the lake, at the top of the big hill, near where I started running, and where the trail flattens out and by the bridges. Usually I just ran to the far side, or stopped completely. There were a lot of them. Hopefully I didn't annoy them too much. They didn't flatten me, which was good. On one of the bridges, another runner's dog, ran through them (while on a narrow bridge), and I was glad none of the tripped. It was scary. And irresponsible of the dog owner.

Wednesday: OFF
I took Wednesday off, since I didn't know when my next off day would be.

Thursday: Speedwork 

I usually do speed work on Tuesday, but the track coach told me not to come the day after a race. (I thought it was pretty funny to be uninvited) So I went to the track after work to do mile repeats. I walked a mile for my warmup. (I always procrastinate doing speed work) Then I ran half a mile and stretched.

3 mile repeats. The goal was 7:20 pace. But I was running by myself, which isn't that fun.
7:21
7:21
And I was trying to run EASY (but within pace), but my legs were a little tired. I was having to work a tiny bit for these paces, (not too much, not like my first workout back after my time off)
7:12 for my last mile. And I worked for it. I was breathing HARD by the end.

I did a half mile cool down and that was that.

(My last mile repeats workout was the beginning of May and my times were: 7:24, 7:26, 7:13)

Friday
My plan was to leave work a few minutes early and go to a rocket yoga class. Work got insanely busy after lunch, so I couldn't leave early. Boo. (Especially since my month to the studio is up so I never got to try the class). I needed yoga after the work day so I went to yoga at Ramsey. At 5:30 the class wasn't that full, but by 5:40 it was packed with people showing up late.

(And no I didn't go to glow yoga. I like it. But maybe just for fun and special occasions. It's later than I like to be out)

Saturday: Long run
The goal was to go out and run 9 miles. And Cook's Trail is my favorite place for long runs (because it's so flat).

The weather was glorious. And this was one of those magical runs. I was on this run—running easy, running my pace. And I just felt strong. I got to the half way point of the run and used the bathroom and got some water, and started running back (not even 2 minutes of break. Completely acceptable. The water really helps.)

On the way back, I was thinking
1) How wonderful it is to be alive. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining through the tree canopy and it was just a gorgeous gorgeous day.
2) How wonderful it is that my body can do this. Run for an hour and a half

I almost said I didn't walk once in the run (but there's a super steep hill I always walk on, so 15 steps, but after that I didn't walk at all).

The last time I ran this trail, I had a small breakdown on mile 6. Not today. I ran my 9 and had a little left in the tank, so I got to 9.3 so I could say I did a 15k, and then I was at 1:29, so I decided to run for another  minute to get to 90 minutes. So I ran 9.4 miles. And I could have kept going. I 100% could have done 10 miles today. But I didn't want to overdo it. (I was worried I'd hurt later). So I stopped and waited for Matt, who did 10.

This was MY LONGEST RUN EVER. And I am super, super proud of it. Yay for getting fitter.

Our reward was burgers for lunch.

And then Sally texted and asked if I wanted to go to yoga. Yep! So I did an hour of yoga that night (which I needed to stretch after the long run, and definitely had a little less energy than normal in the class.)

Sunday: 3.4 miles plus BodyPump
I did 3 easy miles at the botanical garden. It was windy. I got all sorts of dirt and sand blown into my eyes. It was painful. Definitely not running in tomorrow's tropical storm rain.

I don't really like running at the botanical garden. The trail is narrow, technical and just too hilly. I haven't run here in awhile so I gave it another chance. Nope. Still my least favorite trail.

And I kept straight on the white trail, so I ended up at 2 miles so I had to do another half loop. I always turn wrong on this trail.

I like the flat part and only the flat part.

So I made my miles for the week: 26 miles.

I thought about going swimming or doing another workout today. The gym is closed Monday and Tuesday (because of the hurricane) so I decided to go to a Bodypump class. Since I guess I'm taking Monday off. The class was PACKED. Everyone wanted to get their Monday and Tuesday workouts in.

Weights from Bodypump. 

So I did the class. Died in the lunges. And did too heavy a weight for one section of arms and died. And I figure it's fine if I'm sore since I have the next day off. But it wasn't bad for not having taken the class since end of June (maybe early July but not sure).

Garmin step challenge:
Randomly, my Garmin gives me challenges to compete in. This week's was the 95,000 step challenge. I got to 95,000 last week, barely. I had to pace a ton Sunday night. But this week, I ran more miles and didn't make the 95,000 goal. Not sure what that's about. Seems like if I ran more miles, my step count would be up.

Miles this week: 26 miles run, including a race
Workouts this week: 5 runs (1 race and 1 speed workout), 2 yoga classes and 1 weight session

Churro donut.
Just because.