Training Recap - 02/01 through 02/07

It's February, so it's time for shit to get real. I'm still worried about my calf, but easy running and lots of maintenance should keep it in check. Big jump in mileage this week, although a lot of it was easy and/or dog running. I tried daily 10-minute strength sessions, and that doesn't work for me. After not doing anything on Friday's rest day, I just gave up. I'll go back to trying to do strength twice a week. No cross-training this week, and now that I'm running so very easy most of the time, I'm guessing XT won't happen.

6 runs in 6 days (4.5trail)
33+ miles
155 average heart rate, 179 max heart rate
65 average resting heart rate
4 strength (short sessions)
0 XT
5 maintenance (foam-rolling, stretching, Myrtl)

Sunday's trail run at Plateau Trail

Monday: 5.24 miles in 1 hour (11:27 pace, 146 avg HR) + 10-15 min of strength (lower) & maintenance
I headed home after work and just hopped on the treadmill for an hour, still doing that low HR thing. I watched some Buffy while running, and by the end, I had to drop the pace horrifyingly low to keep my HR from being too high. Trust the process, trust the process.

I'm aiming for at least 10 minutes of strength work per day, so Monday was lower body (squats, one-legged squats, Myrtls, etc.).

Tuesday: 5.25 miles (dog running, 143 avg HR) + 10-15 min of strength (core, upper) & maintenance
I took three dogs out: Minnie, Buddy and Carlita. All of them were easy-going joys! Young Minnie continues her recovery from surgery, Buddy is young and Carlita is older. <3

Wednesday: 5 miles (9:41 average w/ middle 3 at 9:10, 172 avg HR) + 10-15 min of strength (lower) & maintenance
Group run night! Except I decided to pick up the pace at the 2-mile turnaround so I ran 2 miles solo and then Aaron joined me for a cooldown mile. I ran my fastest mile of the year so far: 8:29. Max HR was 189. Felt pretty good.

Thursday: 4.25 miles (dog running, 146 avg HR) + 10 min of strength (upper)
Another dog running night! No one new, but two dogs who needed to go out. Bernice (my little project) and Karma are both in the back, and I think it's hard on them. They both pulled more than usual, so there must have been something in the air.

Friday: rest

Saturday: 9 miles (Hadd test, 1:45, 160 avg HR) + maintenance
See this post for details of the Hadd test, but a lot of this run was VERY slow because it was based on heart rate. I felt good, though, and I'm looking forward to repeating the workout in six weeks. Also it's kind of fun not worrying about pace at all, just going by HR.

Sunday: 4.5 miles (trail, 163 avg HR) + foam-rolling
Beautiful morning for a trail run! I felt pretty good too. There's something to this slow running.

Upcoming week:

Monday: 45-60 minutes easy + strength
Tuesday: dog running (may switch w/ Thursday)
Wednesday: 5-6 miles (speed)
Thursday: 45-60 minutes easy + strength (could always be dogs)
Friday: rest
Saturday: 3-4 miles easy
Sunday: 10k trail race