Wine & Dine: Week 5

 

 How is week 5 here and gone already? Insanity. I can't believe September is almost over -- where did summer go? This week I tried to get my work in but also tried not to push it too much, in anticipation of RAGNAR DC. Oh my god, the excitement! I couldn't believe it was finally here! 

Sunday: Cross-train

Cycle 7.32 mi / 30:00 / 14.6 mph 

 Am learning to love my cycling days. I've turned it into my own challenge -- 30 minutes through October 7, then up to 45. Trying to push further and further into how many miles I can get done in 30 minutes. Most of the time, I use song tempos (chorus) to push hard, and downgrade a little bit during the body of the song. It's been a fun work out. Straight to weights afterward for some arm and leg work. I think I like doing this on Sundays since I'm at the gym anyway, rather than incorporating it into Wednesday's regiment (given my long days at work are Wednesdays, for sanity's sake I think this works better too!).

Happy cross-trainer after cycling!

Monday: 4 miles 

Rest

 Was not feeling life on Monday morning, which sucked considering the high I was on leaving the gym on Sunday afternoon! Oops. But I also knew that if I wasn't into it, pushing it through this week wouldn't necessarily be the best idea with Ragnar looming ahead at the end of the week. I think this worked in my favor.

Tuesday: 40 minute tempo

2.03 mi / 17:57 / 8:50 pace

Tempo Tuesday success! Far from the 40 minutes scheduled, but the rain started up again right as I was near my house, so I deemed it a sign. Fair enough? This was an awesome 2 miles though and I kind of wish I had continued, rain or not, just to see how far I could push myself. Love seeing how much these tempo runs are becoming easier and easier, and not as much of a pain as I kind of anticipated them to me. Happy times!

Wednesday: 3 miles + strength

2.51 miles / 23:55 / 9:31 pace

 Again, though I didn't get my full run in as expected (ran out the door way too late!), it's really exciting to see when a 9:35 pace doesn't feel like a ton of work. Like I probably could have pushed on (had I not been out of time) and really done a full 5K at least at that pace, which is just awesome to think about! You know you're making improvements and getting in better physical shape when you see a pace like that at the end and don't feel like you're going to die from pushing on so hard. Win.

Thursday: Rest

Rest

Seems like the only day I'm good about following my schedule is on Thursdays. Convenient, huh? This was travel day, anyway, so I had no choice but to rest. My flight was at 7:25 up to Pittsburgh, so I was out the door at 5:45 to get to Hartsfield-Jackson -- who wants to run that early anyway?

Friday-Saturday: Ragnar DC (recap coming soon)

Leg 1: 4.43 miles / 41:56 / 9:27 pace

Leg 2: 6.67 miles / 1:05:26 / 9:48 pace

Leg 3: 2.7 miles / 27:54 / 10:19 pace

Decent week, considering Ragnar was coming up. I feel like I could have pushed it a little more, but I'm glad I didn't attempt and risk injury before such an amazing adventure. Can't wait to share my Ragnar experience with y'all -- hoping to get those done tonight since now I'm a little behind on blogging life!