Fall 2013 training week 6. 10 weeks to go.

This is the most aggressively I've ever trained, so I was happy to get to this cutback week with no major issues. My calves have been somewhat sore, however, and there's also been a bit of nagging stiffness in my hips, so a bit of a rest week was definitely in order.

Monday: Holiday Monday! Technically Joseph Brant Day here in Burlington. Took advantage of the day off to give my long neglected bike a spin, and followed up with a TRX DVD Patty loaned me. Between the hills I tackled on the bike and the one-legged TRX squats, my glutes were so mad at me.

Someday I will get a proper road bike, but for now my heavy beast of a commuter bike does the job. When the Tour Wannabes go sprinting past me on their road bikes I figure I'm getting a better workout from the extra bike weight I'm hauling around. Or something.

Tuesday: Back to work, back to getting up early to get in an easy 8k. Patty wanted to run 10k, so we split the difference and made it an easy 9. Legs were tired from the day before so it wasn't the greatest feeling run, but got it done. Best part was seeing that they've paved the track at the new high school near me, which will hopefully give me another track option that isn't full of holes and tripping hazards. Assuming they don't keep it locked up to keep the riff-raff off of it.

Wednesday: Planned a bike ride, but I was pretty tired so decided to sleep in instead. Well, it is a cutback week, and it's not like I did something crazy like skip a run.

In the evening I did a TRX youtube video which was tough! You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5da5-9KpEo I'll use that one again, even if the very first move was hilariously impossible for me (Suspended Incline Press = probably easier for guys, I expect). I settled for getting myself roughly into position and making almost invisible tiny handstand pushup-eque motions.

It really felt like my legs were higher in the air than that! And yes I use my daughter's room for TRX. Only place in the house with a suitable door for the chin up bar and room to exercise.

Thursday: Easy 8k. Turned into 7k because THIS RUN SUCKED. I could tell it was going to be bad when I walked out the door and the humidity was like a damp wall. Me and humidity don't get along. Legs were heavy, couldn't focus, had to keep stopping to take breaks. This run is best forgotten.

Terrible run = McD's for breakfast. The logic makes sense in my head

Friday: Rest day. Drove to my parent's house to spend the night before Saturday's race.

Pretty drive at least, although admittedly after 2 hours I can't work up much enthusiasm for yet another corn field.

Saturday: Colleen Lantz Memorial 5k. Read all about it! And if you catch me contemplating signing up for another 5k, please smack me in the head and take my credit card away. No more 5k races until next spring.

Sunday: 15k LSD. I woke up earlier than I planned and decided I might as well get the run over with. I'm glad I did! The temperature was perfect (just a touch on the cool side). When I parked my car by the lake I saw that off in the distance there was a freighter, clearly heading towards Hamilton harbour and the lift bridge, and I figured I would probably get to the lift bridge at about the same time as the ship. I find watching boats go under the lift bridge weirdly fascinating (I'm an 8 year old boy at heart?), so I was pleased when I arrived at the bridge at almost the exact same time as the freighter. I was able to run along the pier as the boat was passing and it was really cool.

Running by the lake early in the morning is just awesome.

The rest of the run felt great, too. Easy pace, stopped to take pictures a few times, and enjoyed the views. One of those runs that reminds me why I love running (and why I love Burlington). Even the stench of fresh garbage on the Hamilton side of the liftbridge couldn't wipe the smile off my face. A great end to the week!

Weekly stats: Ran 36.6 km in 3:35:24. Biked 16k. Two TRX workouts. Yoga: Fail again. Maybe next week.

This week, I have the 15k Midsummer Night's Run on Saturday. I don't want to treat this as another cutback week, but I also want to be in good shape for the run on Saturday. My current plan is to run a tempo at race pace on Tuesday and then do easy runs Wednesday and Thursday so that my mileage for the week will be higher but leave enough in the tank to run a good race. So it does kind of wind up being two relatively easy weeks in a row, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing as I move into the next stage of Scotia training. Lots of quality speedwork coming and it's time to take the tempos longer - if I want to hold a fast pace over 21.1k, I have some work to do.

Song of the week: Radioactive - Imagine Dragons. My husband says Imagine Dragons are the good version of Coldplay, hahaha. I cannot get this song out of my head!