Weekly Sweats: Curveball

28 miles of running went down this week, no thanks to the weather. 

I'm linking up with the Weekly Run Down, please head over to Kim and Deborah to check it out.

Monday: 4.25 miles easy

Tuesday: Workout day.  2 mile warm up, then 2 x 1.5 miles @ 10k pace with .25 miles recover, then cool down to 7.25 miles total.  This was one of those mornings when it was a shame that it wasn't a race day because I could have kept running forever. 

Wednesday: rest!!!

Thursday: Curveball day.  I was all set to get out there and do 4 x 800 at 5k pace (current goal: sub 30 Turkey Trot)...well that was a great plan but the reality was that we had rain for days.  By Thursday morning it was chilly with a constant downstream, a good inch of water on the road, and cloud cover making it pitch black even after sunrise.  Yep, that's exactly why we have a treadmill.  But there's no way, no how that I can do my 5k pace on the tready right now, so the workout was out.  I did 4 miles with 30 second speed bursts every quarter mile to make it spicy.  It was not the workout that I planned, but all things considered, it was the workout that I was more than happy to settle for.

Friday: weather wise, it was a total repeat of Thursday...4.5 treadmill miles, with the same speed bursts.

(P.S. I should probably start doing my easy runs on the treadmill so that I can build my treadmill conditioning and won't have to drop my mileage when I inevitably have to switch to all treadmill running this winter BUT I'm not about to pass up the chance to be outside whenever I can).

Saturday: hey sunshine! Being outside was possible again.  I went out to the hike & bike trail and ran a section that I've never been on before.  I made a point of pushing the pace on miles 5 & 8 to sub 11 (in my head I'd planned to mile 4 & 8 fast...note to self to set it up as a workout next time) and ended up with my fastest outdoor 8 miler ever.

Notable/runfessional highlights of this run:

• I believe this is the longest run that I've done without music.  Not planned, but for whatever reason the ol' airpods didn't charge so I started the run without music intending to put them in later after they'd charged.  That was the last I thought about it until the run was over. 
  
• First run of the season in full winter gear - full length leggings, coat, gloves, hat, the whole works.  I can't remember the last time I had my winter gear on, certainly April if not May.
• Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...yes I am talking about cheap leggings on Amazon.  Last winter I got a very cheap pair of fleece leggings, which were fine for a few runs and then started chaffing me...in a very intimate place.  Last month I got an even cheaper two pack of leggings with rave reviews and wore the first pair on this run...in one word...OUCH!  Never again.  (P.S. I recently got a few pairs of these crop leggings from Old Navy which I've worn on nearly every run for the past month.  They are very warm and chafe free, the only downside is that they have no pockets...I've ordered what I think is the full length version of these so fingers crossed I should be set for winter running...pre-pandemic I didn't have much of a winter running wardrobe because I only ran outside on non-icy weekends).
  

Sunday: rest!!!