Week in Review (April 29 - May 5)

Tuesday - Dun dun dun... first time attempting "speed work" in a hundred years. I pulled up paces based on a recent half marathon time of 2:18 and it gave me times of 9:10 for a 1200 and 9:05 for 800's. Now, at some point in my running life, I was able to run such paces. And I was able to do so for an entire half marathon. I won't lie, these paces terrify me now. I did my mile warm up, and felt pretty good. That is, until I actually started the speed work. On schedule - 2 x 1200 @ 9:10, 4 x 800 @ 9:05. What I managed to pull out was NOTHING close to that: 1 mile @ 10:59, .60 @ 9:20, .25 @ 9:52, .25 @ 9:32, .25@ 9:16, .35 @ 9:03, .30 @ 9:00, .35 @ 9:37, .25 @ 7:52, .50 @ 9:12, 1 mile @ 11:45 (with first 90 seconds walking). So basically, I was able to do one 800 sort of close to pace, that's it. I'm trying not to beat myself up over it, I haven't done speed work in a LONG time, and the whole point of this program is to improve my running so I can have a great race in NYC.
Wednesday - Walked a bit on the treadmill during lunch and tried the new abs video. I am amazed how taking just a little time off from doing core work makes it SO HARD again. After work, went to BodyPump. I'm killing the cross training part of my training!
Thursday - DUN DUN DUN (again). First TEMPO run in ages. I was actually dreading this more than the repeats, and was sort of surprised that while it was HARD, it was not AS BAD as I thought/expected. Goal - 1 mile easy, 2 miles @ 10:05, 1 mile easy, 2 miles @ 10:05, 1 mile easy. Actual - 1 mile @ 10:53, 10:07, 9:57, 1 mile @ 11:17, 10:06, 9:53, 1 mile @ 10:55. So... pretty decent!
Friday - Nada. Ate pizza. Drank some beer.
Saturday - Runs With Scissors half marathon. This was dismal. I was tired from the beginning. Maybe I need two rest days after a tempo run for a decent race? I forgot to look what the goal pace was, but I think it was around 10:55? I was closer to 11:35. Wah. A and I spent the remainder of the day at another BBQ.

Sunday - Lower body sculpting video.
Monday - Upper body superset with cardio. This one is ok, although when I selected it, I stopped reading at superset and didn't realize there were minute long cardio intervals. At least there were no jump squats? Then I did the abs video again. A joined me for a bit, which was mildly hilarious.

Weekly Miles Run - 25.21 (12.1 treadmill, 13.11 racing)
Weekly Cross Training - A bit of walking on the treadmill, nothing exciting
Minutes of Strength - 161

Weekly Gain - 0.8 pounds

• And with that weigh-in I am officially at the highest weight I have been in a year.
• Clearly, I am not putting in the effort, it just seems crazy how easy it comes back, and how hard it seems to lose it?
• The other day I finally started tracking again, which is the Worst, but it worked for me the first time around, so I guess I have to do it if I truly care.

Everything Else 

• My friend that is going to NYC with me so I can bring A and I have decided to add a day to our trip. We are going all the way out there, we might as well see everything we can. We will be going out the Wednesday before and coming back the Monday after the marathon. Hotels are booked, I'm just eyeballing airfare for now.
• Related: I AM THE MOST EXCITED EVER FOR NYC.
• Related: A week into the training program and I think it will be a good fit. I think I have a good schedule going, and I'm excited to see where it will take me. 
• Related: Hearing about my friend Elizabeth PR'ing the shit out of a half marathon this weekend makes me sort of want to work towards getting some of my "speed" back. But then I remember how hard running fast is, so nevermind. 
• Work is still really busy and I'm still doing 95% of the support work. WTF. At this point, I don't even bother complaining because I'm at least busy. But really, WHAT DOES SHE DO ALL DAY???
• Nothing else. Nothing nothing nothing.