Week in Review 12.29.13

Monday called for slow hills.  I tried to run slower than normal (which I did) but couldn't run the full minute slower than my goal pace of 11 minutes.  We'll have to see but how I'm running now I might need to lower that a bit.  It also called for 3 miles, but since I was normally doing 5 miles a day I compromised and did 4 since I ran on Sunday as well.  When I stepped outside it was raining (even though the weather channel app said it wasn't), not hard but still it was 34 degrees and raining so I went back inside to get my stuff for the gym.  Then I said to myself "look there are going to be nasty days where you have to run might as well suck it up and start now" so I did.  I did a quick warm-up lap around the neighborhood then 2.5 times down and back up Waverly ave.  To make sure that I got to 4 miles I had to go over Belmont street over into Belmont but I got it done. 4 mi in 43:12 a 10:47 pace.

Christmas eve I headed back to the gym since the track still had a fair amount of snow on it. Interval training on the treadmill isn't much fun.   5 mi in 48:54 a 9:47 pace

Thursday was a tempo run.  At just under 5 hours my pace should be 11 minutes a mile, but the more I can push myself I might be able to take that time down while still being able to enjoy myself!  I headed down towards Waltham and John Brewers and down around there a couple of times minding the slick spots.  The 5 mi in 48:40 a 9:44 pace

Friday I headed back to the gym for some cross-training a spin class with Julie.  After explaining how crowded it was to Julie and how we had to arrive early, this class was much less so with only about 10 people there, but it was still a good workout.  Breakfast a Panera afterwards not so much.  First they couldn't take giftcards (I had a $10 one for like 2 years now) and then our order got messed up.  30 minutes later we were walking out the door with our sandwiches so I could hurry on down to the bus stop.  48:58 minutes on the bike covering 13.7 miles

Saturday was group run number two for Boston Children's.  This week we met over at Wellsley (which I confused with Weston so it was a good idea I looked it up the night before so I wasn't later) at mile 14 of the marathon course.  After a quick warm-up we headed out on the course.  It was a straight shot down 16 which took me through the center of town and then just after mile 2 down a ridiculous hill.  Thankfully at the top there was a water stop because on the way up I would surely need it.  From there the course takes you over 128 where you get to dodge cars coming on and off the highway, and then past Newtown-Wellsley hospital (in case you get hit).  About a mile from there you hit the Newtown brick fire station which was my turn around (coming from the other way) last week as well, and where the marathon course really starts to head up hill.  From there it was back the way we came.  While making my way back I was talking to someone from last year who said she forgot about that hill and hated it just as much as she did last year, but on the good side it's worse than Heartbreak Hill!    8 mi in 1:19:54 a 9:57 pace

Sunday I headed back to BSC for another spin class.  This time with a fill in instructor who looked...OK I'll say it Old, but he was working it even if he did change songs a lot. He was also more structured in explaining beforehand what the percentages of effort should be.  This time my bike computer only worked some of the time so I ended up having to extrapolate how much I really did over the class based on about 20 minutes of data.  Hey runkeeper says it's a new record for distance so I'm going to say it's right!   After another 50 minutes I was ready for some lunch (and a pair of bike shorts, those seats hurt) so we headed back over to try our luck at Panera again.  Thankfully the gift card worked and our orders came out as requested (I hid from the same lady making out food again).  15.5 miles in 50:55 an 18.27 MPH average.

Miles run last week 22

Miles run this year 1025.2