WRD:  Week 31 and Hello August!

WRD: Week 31 and Hello August!

4 August, 2019 Off By Renée

Deborah and Kim are the amazing hosts for the Weekly Run Down! Feel free to join in as well to wrap up your week in fitness!

Whoo hoo! It’s August! We are getting closer and closer to the marathon and now my birthday is less than a month away. I’m really happy my mileage is going up. I’m still struggling a bit with endurance but I’m just going to keep on keeping on. Wonder how many kilometers I’ll run in August??? I have at least 2 pretty long runs coming up plus the Half Marathon in Helsinki. It would be great if my endurance would improve any time now…

This week was a good week. Training went well (mostly) and even though there was some stress at work I managed to make it through mostly unscathed. The stupidly hot temps went down and sleeping was a tiny bit better than the last two weeks. My washing machine, however, blew up last week and we unfortunately had to buy a new one. I am grateful that we have the means to do that, but I can tell you right now it’s not something I wanted to spend money on right now. Chicago is coming up and pretty much we are trying to save money for that trip and buying new appliances was not part of the plan. It was a good run. The machine lasted us 15 years. Time for a new one anyway I guess. Please send good juju, prayers, positive vibes, etc. that the refrigerator and stove keep going until at least end of the year – you know what they say about appliances all going at once? Well… the toaster already kicked it a month ago, now the washer… everything was bought pretty much around the same time…

the washer almost caught on fire… luckily Ron and my stepson were in the bathroom when it started emitting smoke…

Anyway, I was almost completely spot on with training this week. Almost…

This Week In Fitness

Plan vs. Actual

  • Monday – REST – Nailed it!
  • Tuesday – Intervals; 3 x 1 mile (@6:00 pkm) / 200m rest – DONE
  • Wednesday – 5KM run (AM) will I make it this time??, Gym with Marie-Jose – LUNCH RUN instead, Bodypump with M-J
  • Thursday – Intervals 5 x 600 m (@5:30 pkm)/ 300m rest (though I really also want to go to Bodypump, & Sprint) NOPE, worked 10.5 hours, went out, made two attempts and the legs just didn’t want to go. Walked a few km’s but running was out
  • Friday – REST Intervals from Thursday DONE
  • Saturday – Intervals; 3 x 1 mile (@6:00 pkm) / 200m rest strength at the gym afterwards – slightly altered intervals at the track, 400m rest i/o 200, Bodypump with M-J DONE
  • Sunday – 21KM (!!!!) long run – managed 18KM before I was burnt toast

Worth Noting

Tuesday – wasn’t in the mood for the intervals, couldn’t figure out where to go and I was on my own as Ron had a different training. Ended up back at the dyke where I usually go and managed these 3 mile intervals at about 5:55 m per km pace (9:32 per mile). Total 9KM.

Wednesday – sleeping is never that great when I do my run too late (which I did) so there was no early morning wake up again. BUT, I was bound and determined to do my easy run during my lunch break at work. I knew I was going to the gym at well to do Bodypump with Marie-Jose, so I made sure to at least get up in time to get my gym back packed properly. On my schedule was an easy 30 min. I ran a bit too fast for a recovery run, but I felt good so just went with it. 4.6KM at an average of 6:31m per km (10:38 per mile). Got home in enough time to change clothes and head over to the gym (I had my stuff with me in case I needed to go directly after work).

sneaky Ron took this photo of M-J and I during the lesson (I’m at the front in the pink tank in case that wasn’t clear…)

Friday – tough, tough day Thursday so I moved my intervals to Friday. First I had to go get my hair fixed and afterwards the new washer arrived and it was raining like all get-out so it was almost 6pm by the time I got out. I’m glad I postponed to today – intervals went way better! 5 x 3:00 with 1:30 recovery. These turned out to be around 550 meters @ 5:28 m per km pace (8:48 per mile) and about 140 meters rest. 6KM total.

bit more purple this time and more intense so it lasts longer

and later intervals (kind of a bummer to wreck my hairdo already but, it had to be done)

Saturday – who the heck am I? I got up at 7am, fed and watered myself and also packed up my bag to go to the gym. We headed out to the track around 9:30, did a warm up and then adapted the training for the track; 3 x 1 mile with a recovery round of 400m. Ron paced me for the 1600’s and I managed around 5:40 m per km pace (9:07 per mile) so a tiny bit faster than Tuesday. We were done in plenty of time to get to the gym on time for Bodypump! Total running: 9KM

Sunday Runday – struggled a bit with sleep so was up a bit too late for my liking. Also really had no idea where I was going to run or what my strategy was going to be. My endurance is not that great at the moment and without Ron going with me I knew I needed to have a plan. So I went back to the 4 min: 1 min interval. The schedule asked for 2 and a half hours; I was doner than done at 2:15. I’m good with it; it’s still the longest training run in a REALLY long time (Las Vegas RnR Half) and I call that a success. It was fairly warm and I pretty much drank all my water (1.5 liter) by the time I reached a regular stop on this particular route (Arnhem – Nijmegen) so I bought two bottles of water to refill my hydration bladder. I was sweating like no tomorrow. What is with ALL the sweating?? Anyway, 18 KM in total, pace 7:37 m per km (12:15 per mile)

18 and calling it a day

This Week In Numbers

Biking 35,5 KM (all commuting)
Running 5 x total 46,6 KMS
Gym 2 x Bodypump
AM Workout nope
Steps *103,469 or around 14.8K steps average per day

Coming up Next Week

  • Monday – 30 min recovery run, 15-20 min pilates at home
  • Tuesday – Intervals; 6 x 1000’s (@6:00 pkm) / 200m rest
  • Wednesday – 40 min easy run, Bodypump
  • Thursday – hill repeats
  • Friday – REST
  • Saturday – Long run 2:30 again (will try to hit the 21 this time)
  • Sunday – REST

I had to change my schedule a bit for next week because we have two trips to Amsterdam in the week. I have Thursday off because my first stepmom is in town with her cruise and we’ve made plans to see each other. It’s been absolutely forever since I’ve seen her (I’d say almost 30 years) and I’ve never met her (not so new anymore) husband so I definitely find it important to go. Ron is coming with me too! So I think I may just take my running gear, leave it in a locker and then when I get back from Amsterdam suit up and run the Nelson Mandela bridge for my hill repeats. But that’s just an idea right now; we’ll probably discuss it a couple of times before the run actually happens.

On Sunday we are going back to Amsterdam to go to an Indian Food and Bollywood festival. Hence doing my long run on Saturday.

That’s a wrap!

How was your week? Have you had several appliances crap out on you all at once? Do you sweat a lot and take in a lot of fluids on your long run? How do you manage your long runs, all in one go or do you have to break it up? Do you ever run your long runs in walk/run intervals? Have you ever been to an Indian Food and Bollywood festival or something similar?