Mississauga Marathon training: Week 4

This week felt like a post vacation hangover. It took a while to really get back into the groove of things like going to work and getting the kids ready and off to school every day. But the running went well!

Monday: Travel day, getting home from the Disney trip. I could have used a few days of vacation after that vacation...

Tuesday: Back to work. Back to running at lunch. Back to snow. Blah. Ran 7k. It was cold.

Boo, snow. Boo.

Wednesday: Due to various complications (like meetings and my husband traveling again - yes, he had to leave again 2 days after our vacation), I had to split my run up, for my first ever double. Up early for a very slow 6k on the snow covered sidewalks. Thank goodness for yaktrax.

Then another 6k at lunch. Surprisingly it didn't feel too bad. A bit sluggish, which might have been because of the double but also could have been the vacation sleep deprivation catching up to me.

Also my body is very confused by the reintroduction of these things called 'vegetables'. We didn't exactly eat a healthy diet while we were away.

Thursday: 8k of hills at lunch. 5 repeats on the harder hill. I can count on the hill near work being relatively snow and ice free, thank goodness. Honestly if the paths around the university where I work weren't so well taken care of I'd have had to buy a treadmill by now. So many of my running friends have moved at least some of their workouts to the treadmill. Man this winter has suuuuuuuuucked.

At least the temperature has warmed up a bit. I can deal with -5C. I like -5! Just please no more -20. I can't face many more of those runs.

Kettle bells/TRX in the evening. Nothing too fancy, just 20 minutes of the basics to remember what strength training feels like. And trash my legs completely in advance of Friday's rest day. 

Friday: Rest day! Also some sort of romantic hallmark holiday, which we basically ignored because we are those people who are too cool for Valentine's Day. Nothing says romance like going to bed at 9 pm because you both have 20k+ long runs planned in the morning.

Saturday: 25k long run with Patty, Sam, and Nicole. Longest run since last year's Around the Bay, I believe. Wow. I'm glad I ran it with the girls, since my mind was a bit scattered. My legs felt great, but things just weren't clicking right mentally. Still, got it done, and I'll take the great feeling legs!

Oh COME ON, Runkeeper. That was 25k and you know it.

Wore compression socks all afternoon because this winter has been rough on my calves. Running on snowy/icy surfaces is working them a lot more than usual. I dunno if the socks helped, but they felt good.
 
Sunday: Recovery run, 8k. Nice and slow, partially for recovery and partially because there was just enough snow to hide the ice patches and I didn't want to risk a fall.

Brrrrrrr. Cold run! Lift bridge from the ATB route in the background.

Weekly total: 61km run, for my biggest week since September - more longer weeks to come! And one strength workout. I'm very pleased with how overall strong and healthy I'm feeling right now, so here's hoping that continues!