I started the week with a great track workout at home, but mostly I was running on vacation. I love running in new places. We met up with my extended family in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday. The cooler temperatures we had all week meant we didn’t get to swim, but the running was lovely. We stayed only about an hour away from the location of my fall marathon so it felt a bit like checking out the terrain. Here’s how the week unfolded.
Monday, 6/18, Early Morning Crew – Swim 2200, later strength training
Snarky Girl and I met up with Sargent Swim this morning. She is a real swimmer, unlike the two of us wannabes and we definitely swim more and chat less when she’s around. Also moved my gym session to today because of upcoming vacation.
Tuesday, 6/19, Early Morning Crew – 8 miles – Tuesday Track! 2 miles WU; 2km @ 9:50-10:00; 5x800m @ 3:40-3:45 w/3 min recovery; 1600 @7:45; 1 mile CD
Same workout as last week except with the fast mile tacked on the end. Also, it was 77 instead of 47 degrees. Summer has arrived! 3:43; 3:41; 3:41; 3:42; 3:43 for the 800s and the last mile in 7:41. I am so excited about these track workouts! I also tried out my new Nike Zoom Flys for the first time and I am totally in love with them. Everyone should buy these shoes. We left for vacation with my family today so I went straight home, threw stuff in the car, and rode for 8 hours. Somewhat less excited about that. I was too tired to drive but luckily the Incredible Mervus seems perfectly capable of driving forever.
Wednesday, 6/20, Early Morning Crew – 4 miles (10:05 pace)
First run from our vacation rental house and I bumped into the Geneva cross country team! Ran with them for a bit, which was really fun. Got some tips about where to go for the weekend’s long run.
Thursday, 6/21, Early Morning Crew – 8 miles (9:00 pace)
Thursday runs right now are getting a tad longer each week. The first half of the run is easy and second half is at hoped-for marathon goal pace, around 8:45. Four miles out-and-back took me through the town of Geneva-on-the-Lake. I love beach towns as they are waking up in the morning – restaurants just opening, clean-up from the night before, peeking in the windows of t-shirt shops.
Friday, 6/22, Early Morning Crew – 4 miles (9:03 pace) plus strength
More running on the shore of Lake Erie plus some strength work. When I mentioned to Coach Mick and Tough Guy Trainer that I was vaguely thinking of bringing dumb bells on vacation, they both pretty much said, have at it, we’ve done that. So I snuck a couple into the back of the minivan. The Incredible Mervus didn’t even blink at this and I got a decent weights workout in while most of the family was still asleep. Score.
Saturday, 6/23, Early Morning Crew – 5 miles (9:07 pace)
Rainy morning run. Today is my dad’s 80th birthday so after running, I made a cake!
Sunday, 6/24, Early Morning Crew – Long run, 16 miles (10:14 ave pace)
I got up and out quite early to get this done before our drive home. I’m running the Erie Marathon in September so it’s been special to run along the shores of the lake this week. The best part of this run by far was that my 75 year old uncle joined me for a few miles at the end. What a total treat! He didn’t take any walk breaks despite not running much at home. I told him he should sign up for a 5K – he’d probably win his age group!
Total: 45 miles