Cherry Blossom 10-miler: Training Week 10 (Race week!)

- Mel

This marks the last week of the training cycle for the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. I’m writing this in anticipation of my drive out to DC with some goals, big ideas and a small dose of pride for getting here. Sure, lessons were learned along the way. And with this race out of the way, I’ll pick up where I left off for my Pittsburgh Half Marathon training.

Monday: Rest day.

Tuesday: Ran 4.06. What a beautiful day to be outside! I’m pretty proud of this negative splits action right here too:

IMG_0160

9:54 average pace

Wednesday: Girls on the Run meeting (I really would have liked another run this week, and it was simply Pittsburgh gorgeous outside!).

Thursday: Rainy, stormy day for my short-but-slow last-of-the-training-cycle run today. Thankfully, while stormy, I got my three miles in before the sideways rain, tornado-like windstorm really hit Pittsburgh. And running in the rain felt good — like, really GOOD. Just me, my Garmin watch and my new North Face rain jacket (which, keeps me dry from the elements but makes me sweat profusely, so I don’t even know the point). I also re-started a combined workout of both the 30-day Core Challenge AND the 30-day Ab Challenge. Ironically, I finished those miles in my 5K time from 2013 (the one race a year I would run simply for apple crisp) — 32:30. A good reminder to think about the progress I’ve made.

Friday: REST! I’m going to drink some wine though, for certain. And roll my quads.

Saturday: Training plan told me to rest again, so I’ll do that (not that there’s anything wrong with it). Also, I got to go to the Expo! I brought my small double tennis ball roller to the hotel with me, so I could give myself a good foot warm-up and work out my glutes.

Sunday: RACE DAY! A bit shy of 10 miles (more about that in my upcoming Race Recap), it was a beautiful day to run 9.53 miles in DC.

Total runs this week: 3 (includes Race)
Weekly mileage: 16.59 miles (includes Race)
Total training mileage: 62.40 + 7.06 = 69.46 miles (does not include race miles)

Since I’m not switching over to my Pittsburgh Half Marathon training, the cycle continues with 78.99 total miles. Keep on, keeping on…