March 27th - April 2nd

Sun - 15 miles, the wind almost took me out but I prevailed
Mon - 0 miles, have some strange but seemingly not-serious pains in my right knee/shin
Tue - 6 miles, core strengthening
Wed - 4 miles
Thur - 6 miles, core
Fri - 0 miles, it was snowing out, I'm only such a big wimp on the first day of April
Sat - 6 miles
Total: 37

Holyoke St. Patrick's Day 10k

This is a race that I've done several times and watched almost every year for my whole life. My mother's family lives in Holyoke, and this race weekend is always a big event in our family. I got a ride to Holyoke Saturday morning with a friend and her husband who was also doing the race. We arrived at my grandparent's house, changed into our running clothes, and jogged down for the 1:00pm start. It was a beautiful day for a run and as always there were lots of people out. I started at the 8 minute mile pace marker, which I knew was too far back but I was with my family and wanted to start with them. It took me about half a mile to get past the crowd of slower runners ahead of me, and once I did I started running pretty fast to try to make up for lost time. Miles 2 and 3 are mostly uphill, and then the second half is mostly downhill - both are difficult in their own ways. I was hurting for most of the race, which I saw as a good sign, and I felt like I was running about a 7 minute pace. I crossed the finish line in 43:17 with a net time of 42:52. I was the 21st female out of 2384, which is cool. It was a good race for me overall. I was a bit sore the next day, but an easy 4 mile run got me feeling back to normal.

March 20 - 26

Sun - 4 miles easy
Mon - 4.5 miles lunchbreak in the snow/sleet/rain/hail = extreme misery
Tue - 7 miles - didn't go to track
Wed - 0 miles - slept for 10 hours straight
Thur - not quite 6 miles but i'm going to call it 6 because it was fast
Fri - 6 miles lunchbreak
Sat - 4 miles + push-ups, sit-ups, etc. - getting myself out the door this morning may be one of the hardest things I've had to do in a while - really really didn't feel like going. Of course, feel great now that I've gone.
Total: 31.5

2 x (1 x 1600 1 x 600)

Objective: 2 sets of 1 x 1600 at threshold pace and 1 x 600 at interval pace

Recovery: 1:00 between 1600 and 600, 1:30 between sets

Results: 6:24 / 2:15 / 6:30 / 2:16

Overview: My legs have definitely been a bit tired, but this workout felt good nonetheless. The second 1600 didn't feel any slower than the first, so I can't imagine why it was.... but I'm glad my second 600 was barely slower than the first. I'm looking forward to taking the day off of running tomorrow.

March 13 - 19

Sun - 12 miles, felt comfortable
Mon - 4 miles & "feats of strength" aka pushups, situps, etc.
Tue - 7 miles with track workout
Wed - 0 miles
Thur - 6.5 miles beautiful day
Fri - 0 miles, race tomorrow
Sat - 7 miles with 10k race
Total: 36.5

3 x 1600

Objective: 3 x 1600 at threshold pace

Recovery: 1:15

Results: 6:27 / 6:23 / 6:29

Overview: I'm pleased with my effort and results - the fastest mile repeats I've done this spring. My lower back started to hurt on the second repeat and I thought about stopping, but kept going and was able to run through it. I did feel quite sore at the end of the workout. I'll just have to see how I feel tomorrow and make sure not to overdo it if my body's tired.

March 6 - 12

Sun - 11.5
Mon - 0 miles... tired from yesterday but still feel guilty not running
Tue - 6 miles with speed workout
Wed - 0 miles, yoga
Thur - 6.5 miles lunchbreak, windy day
Fri - 6. 08 - to be extremely precise, at an average pace of 7.28 (running with runners who run with garmins)
Sat - 4 miles easy
Total: 34.08

Overview: This was a good running week for me, my legs are sore and tired but not in a bad way, and I'm looking forward to another longer run tomorrow.