Strong Finish

Strong finish to both my week in general, and to a couple of runs in particular.

This week started off pretty rough, but I pulled a few strong runs out at the end of the week and managed to get over 40 miles for the week. When I got back to Portland from the Bay Area, I had some kind of yucky chest cold that resulted in me sounding like an old smoker lady. I kind of liked the deep, raspy voice… it was kind of sexy. Ha! But, I didn’t like being sick. I skipped my short recovery run on Tuesday and rested. Then, I decided to skip Wednesday’s planned track workout too. Bummer. I even left work early both these days and rested on the couch. I drank tons of tea and went through a package of cough drops and slept. By Thursday, I was feeling a little better and was determined to get out and run. I completely scrapped my running schedule for the week and just went out for whatever mileage and pace I could handle for the rest of the week. I felt good enough to run every day for the rest of the week- Thursday through Sunday and actually ended up with some really quality workouts. Two of my runs were ridiculous negative splits- my pace on the second half was a full minute per mile faster. I’m still coughing a bit but obviously on the mend. And I have my annoying normal voice back. :)  Here is the recap:

Monday: rest (planned rest day/travel day home from CA)

Tuesday: rest (sick)

Wednesday: rest (still friggin sick)

Thursday
8.15 miles/1:18:18/9:37 average pace
Super cautious (slow) run to test the ol’ lung capacity. Felt fine.

Friday
6.0 miles/49:22/8:14 average pace
Forest Park run with Emily. We had an awesome run together chatting and dreaming (she just quit/retired from her job and has some BIG goals and I’m so excited for her) and just enjoying the scenery. It has rained a ton lately so we had to leap over lots of puddles which was fun. We were talking the whole time and were surprised at the end to see how fast we’d gone.
First 3 miles @ 8:42 pace
Last 3 miles @ 7:45 pace (last mile was 7:18)

Saturday
9.0 miles/1:22:08/9:08 average pace
Another pretty easy/slow run out on the waterfront/springwater trail. It was crazy windy but I felt good.

Sunday
17.0 miles/2:24:36/8:30 pace
Zach and I drove out to Gresham and ran that eastern stretch of the Springwater trail for something different. We caught a nice break in the rain but the wind was ridiculous. I ran into the wind for the first half which also is a very slight incline. I felt good though and was zoned out to the music on my iPod. When I turned around I had the wind at my back and a tiny decline and couldn’t help but really pick up the pace. I wasn’t even looking at my watch so I was surprised to see how fast I’d run the second half of this long run.
First 8.5 miles @ 9:00 pace
Last 8.5 miles @ 8:00 pace (last mile was 7:26)

Hell ya.

total miles for the week: 40.15 miles

Not bad!

Next week is another big week with track work, a 20 mile run, and 50+ miles scheduled. I’m hopeful my cold is behind me and I’m really hoping for some better weather!

I hope you all had a great week and a nice Easter with your families. Thanks for reading! :)