Annie's on the run

Here I am again! Second Monday in a row. I’m totally killin’ this New Years resolution 11 days in.

So last week was a pretty good running week for me, and once again my highest mileage since my injury. Plus, it was my first double-digit long run! Here’s what the week looked like:

Monday: 6 miles, 8:36 pace

Tuesday: Tempo Run! 1 mile warm up, 4 miles at 7:09 average pace, 1 mile cool down. Average pace: 7:41.

P.S. I was SUPER happy with this run, even though I raced at close to this pace less than a week ago. It just felt MUCH easier this time around. Let’s ignore the fact that it was on a treadmill versus the hills of Western Mass, I’m still very proud it and I’m taking it as a good sign for the rest of my training cycle.

Wednesday: Shake out run. REALLLLY felt that tempo run. My legs were crying to me all day long. 5 miles at 8:38 average pace.

Thursday: 7 miles at 8:26 pace. This was the first running during training where I did not look at my watch ONCE during the run. I was wearing a difficult shirt that was covering my watch so I didn’t really have the opportunity. I think it was very good for my soul to run by feel for once.

Friday: 3 miles, 8:17 pace

Saturday: 10 miles, 7:58 pace. I have no idea what was going on with this run, but I felt like a billion bucks. It was pouring rain, pretty chilly, and the TEAM ran the Newton Hills for the first time. I shouldn’t have felt as good as I did. I love when that happens.

Sunday: Rest

I didn’t cross train this week, which was a bad habit to break. Don’t follow my example. Cross training is important and I’m just dumb. I’ll try to do better this week.

In other news, it was a beautiful week for new shoes. This is what my cubicle looked like on Wednesday:

I ordered the 870v4s (I trained exclusively in the v3s last year for my marathon and was obsessed) and I was pretty disappointed. New Balance changed the toe box so it rubs a little bit, and overall I just don’t feel like the v4s fit as well. I’ve given them three chances and I’m still pretty unhappy. Unfortunately, New Balance doesn’t have the same policy as Brooks (you can return any of your gear for up to 90 days no matter how much you’ve worn it). So I’m stuck with them and will try to incorporate them occasionally into my training.

I also got the 1500v1s for tempo runs and track workouts. I did a little trial run on Friday in them and I like them! Plus they look pretty badass if I do say so myself (they’re those blindingly orange shoes)

I’m also getting these beauties in the mail tomorrow. It’s my first attempt to run in Nikes, so fingers crossed.

And if that goes well, I’ll be buying up all the colors because they’re pretty amazing.

 

And completely unrelated to running, I had a gift exchange with some friends this week and made out pretty well. LOOK AT THESE LESLIE KNOPE EARRINGS.

Also, I’m pretty pleased at the resemblance between me and this fox.

And finally I rounded out the week “baking” some Oreo balls and with a delicious swordfish dinner (brought to you by S…definitely not me).

Hope you all have a great week!