So, June is halfway over. Let that sink in for a minute. That means school starts again in less than two months. Summer is going crazy-fast, but at least it’s been enjoyable so far!

Training went well this week. We’ve had some cooler weather for mid-June — I was actually a little chilly on a few runs — which makes for great training weather. Here’s how the training went this week:

Monday:

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: 45 minutes full-body strength, including the core work from Megan’s The Lyons Share Ab Challenge mixed with some of the moves from Greg McMillan’s core workout. Every time I say “core work” for the next month, it’s probably safe to assume that I’m doing some combination of these moves.

Tuesday:

AM: 10.2 miles easy
PM: 30 minutes core work and stretching while watching The Bachelorette. Since I only watch 30 minutes at a time, I’m way behind, so don’t spoil it for me. 🙂 Here’s a way-too-close photo of my plank face. I get bored planking.

Wednesday:

AM: 6.1 recovery miles. Sometimes I am as proud of myself for keeping recovery miles slow as I am for hitting my speedwork paces. And I took a picture of my feet post-run, because that’s what running bloggers do.

PM: The same as Tuesday: core and stretching and Bachelorette-ing.

Thursday: 

AM: I needed to run cruise intervals, which means longish intervals fairly fast with short recoveries. I also wanted to run the interval portions downhill to prep for this downhill race. I debated my options: Drive out to the hills (but I was short on time since my summer course started this week), run on a long-enough-but-not-steep decline closer to home (but I’d have to have equal recoveries so the intervals could be all downhill), or use the incline trainer at the gym (which only goes to -3% decline, but would allow for appropriately short recoveries). I chose the incline trainer, so I ran to the gym as a warm-up, did 7.5 miles of downhill cruise intervals, and ran home as a cool-down for a total of 10 miles. I could definitely feel the decline’s effect in my quads the next day, which I’m taking as a good sign.

PM: Back to the gym for 45 minutes of strength training.

Friday: 

AM: 5.2 recovery miles

PM: Again with the core and stretching. I also spent some QT with the foam roller. I did not like it. 

Ouch.

Saturday: 

18-mile long run. I ran the hilliest route I can run from my house… which is clearly not that hilly compared to what I’d like to be running, but sometimes you’ve just got to do the best you can with what you have.
I enjoyed this run quite a bit. It was nice out — actually getting hot by the time I finished, but the sun felt good!

Sunday:

Rest day. I did Megan’s Five Minutes to Flat Abs workout as part of the abs challenge, and that was it. We went to a wedding last night and I was up way past my usual bedtime, so I didn’t mind taking a rest day today. I also did not take any pictures of J and me all dressed up, so you’ll just have to take my word that I do occasionally wear a dress and make-up despite what the pictures on this blog suggest.

Totals: 58.6 miles running, 3ish hours strength/stretching

Now that the second week of training is in the books, I feel like I’m getting my marathon mojo back. I realize how dumb that sounds, but I don’t really care. Have a great week, friends!

How was your week?

Been to any cool weddings lately?