2/10 - 2/16

Mon: 2x2-miles (13:51, 13:48)
Tues: 8x400m (1:27-1:30)
Wed: 7-miles (Snow Run!)
Thurs: 5-miles
Fri: 3.5-miles + stretching
Sat: 10-miles (3x2-mile @ 7:20 pace on treadmill)
Sun: 12-miles (part 1, part 2) + weights
Total: 50.5 miles

I decided to take a break from mileage this week and act like I was tapering for a race. I realized that the problem with not racing very frequently is that you're always training and beating yourself up. I want to make it to the start line of Boston, and I don't want to hate running. So, I decided to go into "interval" mode. Plus, they couldn't quite make up their mind when the next winter storm was going to hit Raleigh, and when it did, holy winter!

I thought it would be snowing by Tuesday night, so I decided to get the track workout over on Monday. It was lightly drizzling, and not exactly warm out, so I decided not to do anything too fast and crazy. I ended up doing 2x2-miles at right around half marathon pace. The workout went well. I pretty much evenly split each repeat. I felt like I was working, but not exhausted.

It hadn't started snowing by Tuesday night. Sean had put 400's on the schedule, and I figured I could handle something at the other end of the spectrum even though I had done a workout the night before. The 400's went reasonably well. We were focusing on quality, so we only did eight and took 200m in between. I managed to keep them all at 1:30 or under, which was pretty good since it was cold. I did a longer cooldown to get to 7-miles in.

The snow hit on Wednesday. It was supposed to start around 1PM, and it did. I was anticipating leaving the lab and running home at that time, which I did. What I didn't count on was a blizzard. Seriously. It was the most snow I had ever seen in Raleigh and it came down in like 4hrs. I stuck to the sidewalks, and even though I wasn't going fast at all, I was still going faster than most cars. The wind kept blowing the snow in my eyes, which made it hard to see, and the 2-3ish inches of snow kept the pace slow. I just kept trucking along though, it was a recovery day anyways, and I did kind of have fun even though I usually hate the cold. I gave up trying to stop my watch after a while because I couldn't get the buttons to work and it required me to take my hands out of my sleeves.

Keith and I ran from the house on Thursday. It was a slushy mess. But, we felt pretty bad a$$ for just getting out there. As I had intended to do 8-miles on Thursday, but only did 5-miles due to the "conditions", I ran 3 (well, 3.5) more on Friday. I decided to check out Kaplan, which wasn't in bad condition. The 50 degree weather was helping to melt the snow. The sidewalks were still a mess though. Matt and I also stretched and did some core exercises that Elaine had recommended.
 
I made the call Friday afternoon that 20-miles was out for the weekend. According to facebook, the greenways were still dicey, and Umstead was not in great shape either. I decided that I'd try and do an interval workout on the treadmill, so I printed out some guest passes for Fitness Connection, which I had been meaning to check out anyways. When I woke up Saturday morning, it was raining, which cemented my decision. So, Matt and I went to the gym, and I ran 3x2-miles at 7:20 pace on the treadmill. With a warm-up, cooldown, and some easy running in between the repeats, I managed to get to 10-miles, which is a 3-mile treadmill PR! Watching clips from the Olympics definitely helped, but I'm not sure if I could knock out much more than that.

I ran in Umstead with the group on Sunday morning. It was an ice skating rink, but we still held a half decent pace. My watch didn't restart after I paused when the rest of the group (save for Newt) turned back. I started it anew at the water fountain... the total run was a little over 12-miles. Matt and I went to the gym after work and lifted weights. I can tell I haven't lifted weights in a long time! I should definitely do that more.

I have no idea what to think of this week of training. I was happy with the intervals, and I did get three quality days in. My weekly mileage was right at 50, which isn't bad. But, the easy runs were ridiculously slow courtesy of the snow. And, I didn't get a long run in. I'm running out of time if I want to do a couple of 20 milers before Boston. Next week is supposed to be warm (wahooo), but rainy. Oh well.

Also, wahooo Raleigh!