Weeks 9 and 10: When thoughts of doubt creep in

Another post full of two weeks worth of workouts! I'm just lagging behind on blogging, but I've been pretty good about getting in all my running workouts.

Here's how week 9 (Feb. 11-17) went down:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: 6 mi tempo (8:20 average)
Wednesday: Pure Barre (still not a convert)
Thursday: Off
Friday: Uplift Strength (and a delicious Valentine's Day dinner with Dan!)
Saturday: 2 x 1600, 2 x 800
Sunday: 16 mile run on the treadmill since it was freezing outside (AGAIN!). I rented "About Time" from iTunes (super cute!), and when that ended, watched cross country skiers kill it in the Olympics.

Miles of empty treadmills...

And week 10 (Feb. 18-24)
Monday: Day off from work! Enjoyed long walks through the park
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 4 x 1200 that nearly killed me, plus ice skating at Bryant Park
Thursday: Uplift Sculpt Fusion
Friday: Off
Saturday: 4.5 mile "tempo" run to Revolve where I RIP Rode with Christianne (and also saw Melissa for a second!)
Sunday: 12 glorious miles along the West Side Highway

Sunday selfie! Capris + no jacket = HEAVEN

Side note: SIX WEEKS TILL PARIS!!!!!

Can I tell you guys something? While I have been feeling pretty darn good in my runs, I had a moment (OK, a couple moments...) this past week where I really felt like I was NOT prepared for this race. Like, at all. Maybe it's all the treadmill running I've been doing. Maybe it's because I have missed a lot more runs than I have in previous training cycles. Maybe it's because my shin has been bugging me lately and in the back of my mind, I'm worried about getting another stress fracture (once you've had two, it's a constant worry...).

We all have these moments of doubt though, don't we? Where we wonder if we can do it. Can't believe that we will cross the finish line in once piece. Worry that the niggle in our leg is something worse.

I think these are normal for any runner. In an effort to abandon negative energy and focus only on positive energy, I am instead keeping in mind that I have done this before. I completed training runs at slower paces than I'm running now, and PR'ed the hell out of the marathon. I did NO strength training for Chicago (not recommended!) and ran a 3:47. I'm not saying I'm going to BQ in Paris (HIGHLY unlikely!), but I'm stronger now and running faster than I was when I trained for Chicago.

I need to believe in myself and trust my training. It's brought me across the finish line before, and I'll be crossing that finish line again in less than six weeks. It's time to step it up and ROCK these last six weeks of training. It's all for Paris!

With that thought in mind, I've put my ClassPass on hold for March and April. As much as I LOVE it and credit it with making a difference in how I look and feel, I want to focus on getting in my runs and not stress about scheduling and making it to classes. I still have a Daily Burn account to use, yoga DVDs I can do at home, and my gym membership for all of my strength and cross training needs.

Here's how week 11 (Feb. 24-Mar. 2) looks:
Monday: Lotus Hour at Laughing Lotus - check!
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Body Ride at Revolve
Thursday: Run
Friday: Uplift Strength
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: Run - plus Oscars watching!

What do you do when thoughts of doubt creep in?

Week 8: Frozen

Halfway through training - how and when did THAT happen?! These first 8 weeks have been tough and I have no doubt that the next 8 will be even tougher (hello, 20 mile runs!). That said, I think I've had 8 solid weeks of training. I'm keeping up my strength, either in classes or on my own, I'm getting in most runs, and most importantly, I'm listening to my body.

Here's a look at this past week's workouts (Feb. 3-9):
Monday: Off - check!
Tuesday: Run - check! Tempo Tuesday
Wednesday: Spin class at Studio 360 - check!
Thursday: Run - nope. Took a rest day
Friday: RIP Ride at Revolve - nope. Ran instead (speed workout).
Saturday: Run - check! Long run in sub-freezing temps!
Sunday: Candlelit Flow at Yoga Vida - nope. Did Barry's Bootcamp instead (aka opposite of yoga!)

Tempo:
I was nervous for this run (mostly for the 3 tempo miles at 8:00 pace) but made it happen and was so happy that I did! 2 mi warm up, 3 mi at 7.5, 1 mi cool down. In the last half-mile of the last tempo mile, I brought it up to 7.6 for fun :) I love that this pace is becoming more comfortable for me! I ran 6 miles in 49:49!

Speed: 
Done on a Friday night after quite a week! I had two sets of 6 x 400m at 8.5, with 1:30 off between 400s and 2:30 off between sets. This sounded like a scary run, but I told myself that these would FLY by - I mean, each 400 was me running for 1:46, which adds up to being less than 24 minutes of hard work, which is totally doable. Plus, the Olympic opening ceremonies were on, which totally distracted me.

How I do speed work - PostIts with my plan!

Long:
Uhhh brr? This run was definitely a toughie. It was 26*/feels like 19*. I wasn't crazy about running in this weather, but I couldn't do the run indoors. I suited up in fleece-lined tights, UA ColdGear base layer, UA fleece-lined top, a jacket, gloves, and ear warmer. My hands and feet were OK for the run, but my face got SO COLD. 

Forcing a smile in frigid temps!

Snowy path to Freedom Tower.

Never seen the Hudson River like this!

On top of being freezing, my Garmin was totally not working, so served as a glorified timer. It said it had satellites, and sometimes even showed a pace, but never showed a distance. So lame. I used my RunKeeper app for the run, but then my phone died...I think because of the cold temps. I used MapMyRun later, and discovered I ran about 14.2 miles. I was "supposed" to run 15 miles, but just couldn't do it. I got too cold. My face felt sooooo frozen. As soon as I got back to Dan's, I demanded hot water, which helped me get back to feeling normal again :) I'm so proud of how far I went in the frigid temps!

Barry's Bootcamp: 
OMG Barry's Bootcamp led by BARRY JAY!!! He was a really great instructor. The class was HARD and probably wasn't a great idea since I ran 14 miles yesterday, but when I saw Barry himself was teaching, I couldn't pass it up. Plus, I needed more strength work this week! So glad I went!

And here's my plan for this week (Feb. 10-16):
Monday: Well-deserved rest day!
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Pure Barre
Thursday: Run
Friday: Uplift Sculpt Fusion
Saturday: Run
Sunday: Body Ride at Revolve (might cancel this)

Have a great week!

Week 7: 5 miles

It finally happened...I got sick. I knew it would happen eventually, what with all the running around, late nights at work, exercise classes, and everything else! Monday I went to AKT IN MOTION, Tuesday I did not work out, and Wednesday morning I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat. I debated going for a run, but after putting it out to Twitter that I felt crappy, I followed Ashley and Beth's advice and went back to bed. I stayed home that day, sleeping, drinking tea and OJ, and eating soup. I got a ton of sleep over those two days, which was great, and on Friday I stuck to my schedule and hit up Uplift, thinking a workout might help me feel better.

Honestly, I look back now and feel like it was probably not the right decision to go. I was glad to sweat, but I had SUCH a hard time with the weights and felt like death for much of the workout. Despite that, I am proud that I didn't push too hard, listened to my body when it told me to ease up, and survived the class!

Saturday Dan and I did some shopping in Soho, so I got a good amount of walking in. Being outside actually made me feel a lot better! Sunday I was feeling daring, so I hit up the gym. I told myself I'd see how three miles was - I ended up running 5 miles, and felt pretty good during it! No, it wasn't my prescribed pace or distance, but I also just needed to make sure I could still do it. I followed it up with a quickie strength workout (biceps, triceps, back, squats, lunges, and planks), which was also good.

This week I'm still not 100%, but I am getting there. I am going to attempt a run tonight (probably my tempo run) and aim to get back on my training plan as soon as I can. Being sick last week reminded me that I need to slow down sometimes, take care of myself, and most importantly, LISTEN to my body. We all get sick, and as much as I wanted to go out and run and see what I could do, I knew I should chill out, sleep, relax, and heal up. It would be FAR WORSE to be sick closer to race day. Nine weeks out, I can deal with it, and come back even stronger than before!

At least, that's my plan.

I had three workouts last week, which ain't bad for being sick!

This week's plan:
Monday: Off - check!
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Spin class at Studio 360
Thursday: Run
Friday: RIP Ride at Revolve
Saturday: Run
Sunday: Candlelit Flow at Yoga Vida

Fingers crossed on fully kicking this cold!

Weeks 5 and 6: Seems I've fallen into a pattern

Two weeks of training AGAIN! Lucky you. We'll see if this truly is a pattern or if I can get myself together every week from here on out. There are only 10 weeks left after all!

Week 5:
In week 5, I went to AKT in Motion, Uplift Strength, and did tempo and long runs. I totally missed my speed workout and didn't even try to make it up. It was also a crazy nutso week at work, which made getting up early to run impossible (since I was at work till late...). There was one night where I almost had the cab drop me at the gym, but I decided against it and just went home. Definitely the right decision. Also in week 5, I discovered that I was ACCEPTED to the NYC HALF! At first I was like, oh mannn, I don't want to do this race! But then I discovered that it's at the perfect time during my Paris training - March 16, three weeks out from April 6, which will serve as a great gauge for my fitness. Woo woo! Just don't be 25 degrees again, mmk?

Tempo: 2 mi warm up, 3 mi at 7.5, 1 mi cool down. I still remember the first time I ran 4 miles at 6.8 mph. It seemed SO FAST. And then I ran a whole dang marathon at that pace. It's so interesting to me to see progress and how quickly something can become the new normal, especially if you practice it. You've got to run fast to get fast, amirite?! The 8 minute mile (and especially the sub-8 minute mile) is still something that scares this relative running newbie. It feels like I shouldn't be able to do that, but I CAN DO IT. It's weird. But I'm going with it.

Long run: I went to East Hampton with 7 other girls for the long weekend. We rented a house, and it was awesome. I brought all my cold weather running gear thinking I'd totally run outside...maybe not the whole 12 miles that I had on the agenda, but maybe at least 6? Welp, I ended up running all 12...and actually went more like 12.5 or 13 (Garmin started late and the jury's out on Map My Run). I'm SO glad I got it done but holy moly it was hilly and cold that day. Thankfully I had lots of wine to make up for it.

Let's talk about AKT in Motion for a moment, shall we? To start off, KELLY RIPA does AKT in Motion, so you KNOW it's good because Kelly Ripa is adorable and crazy fit. It was new to Classtivity in 2014 and I decided to try it since it's the opposite of my usual bootcamp faves. (By the way, I took this Buzzfeed quiz and got bootcamp...not at all surprising, since bootcamp is an addiction.) AKT is a dance cardio type class where you basically bounce off the walls for an hour straight. Today I did my second AKT class, which was a bit different than the first (i.e. had some barre class moves, which we did not have in the first class I took). There's a lot of dancing, jumping, and working up a sweat throughout the whole class. There's some choreography to learn as well, but take it from a girl who CANNOT dance - you can do this class. No one cares if you look like an idiot. I seriously don't look at anyone else in the class except for the instructor. I especially don't look at myself in the mirror because otherwise I'd be aware of what an ass I'm making of myself, but I figure that as long as I'm always moving, I'm doing what I need to do. Check out Laura's blog for a more in-depth review of AKT (along with just about every single other NYC fitness class - such a good resource!).


Week 6:
YOU GUYS. I DID ALL (three of) MY RUNS. And went to a barre fitness class. This was a momentous occasion and I hope it means that the rest of my training is going to be awesome. You'd think that running just three days a week would GUARANTEE that I'd get them all done, but that is sadly not always the case. Fingers are crossed for getting them all in the rest of training!

Tempo: My legs were super pissed at me on this day. I actually went into this run thinking, this is going to be awesome! And then my legs were like, mayyyybe not. 1 mi warm up, 5 mi at 7.3, 1 mi cool down. I bumped it up to 7.4 for the last half-mile because well why the heck not? Still took me a while to get into it and never really felt super awesome about the run.

Speed: SUCH A GOOD SPEED SESSION. I was extremely pleased that my speed had not left me despite my abandonment of it for two weeks. 10 min warm up, 2 x 1200 at 8.1 and 4 x 800 at 8.3 with 2 min RI, 10 min cool down. This was done on a Friday night after a busy week, and I'm SO glad I got it done. I semi-watched Real World in the background (that show is still on? And people still want to be on it??) which had good entertainment value, but I mostly focused on my tunes. Speaking of, anyone have any good music recs? I'm desperate.

Long run: Maybe I'm a wuss, but I saw freezing temperatures and I totally decided against running outside. And I had 14 miles to run. So where did I go? ...

GANG'S ALL HERE!

Yup. The treadmill.

Two hours, one minute, and 43 seconds on the same damn treadmill. Luckily, I had a movie (Blue Jasmine), a snack (Picky Bar, obvi), and hydration (Nuun!), plus some music for when the movie ended (it was only 1 hr 38 mins long). It really wasn't that bad! I broke it up into 1 hour (6.87 miles), 6.13 miles to get to 13 miles, and did the last mile at 8:18 pace. I also messed with the speeds during the run, toggling between 6.8, 6.9, and 7.0, which helped keep my brain busy. And honestly, as soon as I stepped foot outside to walk to the gym, I felt like I'd made the right decision. I have a lot of winter running gear now, but not enough for this weather. Serious respect to all the Manhattan Half runners and anyone else who can brave these temps, but I, sir/madam, am not one of them. At least I don't hate the treadmill!

And now we are in WEEK 7 of Paris Marathon training. Wild. Here's my plan for the week:
Monday: AKT in Motion - check!
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Yoga at Laughing Lotus
Thursday: HILLS with Jen (having a buddy will make the better, right?)
Friday: Uplift Strength
Saturday: Run
Sunday: OFF!

Questions:
What's the farthest you've ever run on the treadmill?
Freezing temps or treadmill?
Dance cardio classes - yay or nay?

Weeks 3 and 4 - California running is THE BEST

Happy New Year all!

My recap is a bit late for a number of reasons this week... First, my Thursday night flight got canceled due to a snowstorm in the Northeast, and I couldn't get on a flight back until Sunday. Then, when I finally got back on Sunday night, I got home and discovered that the heat was broken in my building! I ended up sleeping there that night, but haven't gone back to sleep there since when I was there for 20 minutes the other day my fingers almost froze off. Thankfully, I hear the boiler has been replaced and heat is back!

Anyway, lucky for me, I was in California all week so I got in some amazing runs in glorious, sunny weather while wearing shorts and a tank top. In January. Ahhhhmazing.

Since I'm combining two weeks in one, suffice it to say that I got in all my runs in week 3, did tempo and long runs in week 4, and replaced my speed work in week 4 with a Barry's Bootcamp speed sesh.

Week 3

Tempo: This tempo had a one mile warm up and cool down, and 5 tempo miles at 8:30. Let me tell you - I was scared of those 8:30s. I thought for sure I would not be able to hold them, and even told Dan (who ran along with me) not to push me too hard if I couldn't make it happen. But guess what? It happened. Every single mile was below 8:30, ranging from 8:10-8:23, and the overall average was 8:26! I was so proud of myself for this run and obviously had to take a selfie with the ocean to document its awesomeness.

Me and the ocean, after 7 miles of California coastline.
This picture also won me a year to DailyBurn!

Speed: My first track workout on a real track! I programmed the workout into my Garmin the night before, with distance, goal speeds, and rest intervals. Dan and I ran down to his high school to use their awesome track, so I had about 2 miles of warm up, followed by 1200m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m with 200m rest, and some cool down miles (which ended at Golden Spoon, where I devoured our "shared" froyo). This workout was HARD. First off, it was HOT that day. Second, I didn't have a treadmill where I could control the speed - I had to do it myself. I definitely took some longer-than-planned pauses, but I finished strong and nailed the speeds in three of the five intervals.

Long: I did an out and back course along the Back Bay. The weather was perfect. I felt awesome. My average pace was lower than the previous week's 9 miler. I chicked a guy. The end.

Beautiful Back Bay in Newport Beach

Week 4
Tempo: After I got back from California, I was a little zonked. Readjusting to the timezone took me longer than expected, I had a bad week in general, and did I mention my week ended with a root canal?! Getting myself up and moving for this run was not easy, but I'm glad I did it. This run involved 1 mi warm up, 4 mi at 7.3, 1 mi cool down. I don't know if the treadmill was off (I feel like it MUST have been), but I felt insanely good running at 7.3, so after two miles at 7.3, I upped it for the third (7.4) and fourth (7.5) miles.

Speed: I was supposed to do 5 x 1000 (probably the distance I struggle with most), but it didn't happen (hello, root canal). I went to Barry's Bootcamp and we did a LOT of speed work - didn't touch the incline the whole time, but I did have a number of opportunities to sprint my ass off and two opportunities to run 800m in 4 mins (which I did, and surpassed, because I knew I was missing an important speed sesh).

Long: My first official cold winter outdoor run - the first of many over the next 12 weeks! I have to say, I'm quite proud of this run. Not only was I spoiled with delicious weather in California, but I was also running on mostly flat surfaces. Central Park's outer loop is not such a surface. I ran 5.5 mi from home, and 5.5 mi back for a nice 11 mile run. It was colder than I'd expected it would be, but I was dressed warmly enough. I saw Evann twice on my run, which was great! All but one of my miles was below 9 min/mi, for an average of 8:49. A bit lower than my California long runs, but much hillier and windier! My legs were so tired at one point - I just wanted the hills to be OVER with. I took a few breaks as needed, but charged up Harlem Hill like the badass that I am (ha). I think I earned the mini-nap that followed.

So here we are in week 5 (!!!).

Here's the schedule:
Monday: AKT in Motion - check! Got my butt kicked. So fun, so sweaty, so hard.
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Uplift Strength
Thursday: Run
Friday: Off? Currently signed up for Barry's Bootcamp, but I just don't think I can make it to Chelsea by 6am!
Saturday: Run (going to be away, but do plan on making this happen!)
Sunday: Off

Questions:
What's your typical cross training workout?
What do you do when you "miss" a run while training?

Week 2 - Got It Done!

Despite holidays and traveling, I managed to complete all three of my key runs for marathon training. Having a treadmill in my parents' basement made this SO much easier to accomplish, but I'm still so glad I got my runs in!

Workout recap for the week:

Monday: Strength workout - ehhh, I walked 2.1 mi on the treadmill and did some squats.

Tuesday: Run (speed or tempo) - check! 7 mile Tempo Tuesday!

Wednesday: Strength workout - plus sitting by the fire, drinking hot cocoa, and opening presents - check! Walked/jogged 2.5 miles, and did 30 minutes of Sworkit strength. I did sit by the fire and open presents, but neglected to drink hot cocoa. 

Thursday: Run (speed or tempo) - check! 5 miles of speed work before boarding my plane to California! And immediately went to In-N-Out upon landing.

Friday: TBD - off? - ended up running 5 miles with Dan, who totally tricked me into running so far! It was beautiful out though, and would have been a crime to stay indoors all day...

Saturday: Long run - nope, ran on Sunday

Sunday: TBD - off? - 9 miles along the Pacific Ocean!

All in all it was a great week of workouts, but I'm missing my classes like Barry's, Uplift, and Revolve! Luckily apps like the Nike Training Club and Sworkit make at-home sweat sessions easier to manage.

Here's a little more about this week's runs:

Tempo: This was a "long tempo," with 1 mile warm up, 5 miles at tempo, and 1 mile cool down. The "prescribed" pace was 6.7 mph/8:54 min miles, but I decided to go a bit faster. I did a progressive run, starting at 6.7 and going up 0.1 every mile, so the last mile was at 7.1. I put on some holiday-themed Friends episodes and zoned out. Great run overall!

Speed: 4 x 800 plus warm up, cool down, and 2 mins rest between intervals. I ran the 800s at 8.3 mph/3:36 per 800. The first and second were OK, but the third and fourth were tough! In the fourth I actually felt as though time started to go backward...which is never fun. But hey, I got it done and made my flight! And...they're not supposed to be easy...they are supposed to be HARD. Important but hard thing to remember sometimes :)

Long: Ran 9 miles with Dan along the Pacific Ocean in Newport Beach! It was SO LOVELY OUTSIDE...I could've run 9 more miles. Man, how easy (I use that term lightly) would it be to train for a marathon in PERFECT WEATHER?! No long fleece-lined tights, no numb hands, no chance of snow...hmm, maybe I won't come back to NYC? No but really, the run was good - very sweaty and very sunny, with an 8:46 average pace...which is almost 50 seconds faster than the average pace I ran for the first 9 miler I did when I trained for Chicago. Things are looking good this training cycle my friends!

Happy and sweaty after 9 miles on the beach!

In addition to the workouts, I came across the goals I set last year. Let's see how I did on them...

• PR in the half: Yes! Ran a 1:49:25 in the Long Branch Half in May. 
• Be injury-free all year: So far, so good!
• Try out a new exercise class: OMG SO MANY!!! Refine was my big favorite this year, but I also tried Revolve, and through Classtivity I went to Yoga Vida, PEDAL NYC, Uplift, Sacred Sounds Yoga, Aqua Studio, Fhitting Room, Jivamukti, Nalini Method, Exceed, and Barry's Bootcamp. 
• My favorites? Yoga Vida, Jivamukti, Fhitting Room, Uplift, and Barry's!
• Move up in bib numbers for NYRR races: Done! I ran a 1:50:02 in the NYC Half, which let me run in a faster bib group in the only other NYRR race I ran this year, the Pride Run. 
• Go to the Astoria beer garden, the Tenement Museum and the Guggenheim: Out of all of these, I only went to the Tenement Museum. Better one than none, right?
• Have an amazing vacation somewhere I've never been before: YES! Went on a cruise to Mexico in February, and went to Rancho La Puerta (also in Mexico) with my mom in October! In 2014 I'm going to PARIS!!!
• Roast a chicken: Nope - never did get to do this one. But 2014...yes. It will happen.
• Read more: I read a lot this year - not sure if it was more than 2012, but I did keep reading books!

I'm really not sure what my goals are for this 2014, other than a marathon PR (and roast a chicken). I'll have a think and get back to you all.

Thinking more short term, here's my workout plan for this week, which will be VERY subject to change depending on my traveling...

Monday: I'd like to get a little strength workout in sometime today...we'll see.

Tuesday: Run

Wednesday: Off - hello, New Year's Day!

Thursday: Run

Friday: Strength? I fly back on a redeye this day...

Saturday: Run

Sunday: Off? Yoga? TBD

Honestly, I will not be surprised if I don't in all my runs...but as always, I'm certainly going to try!

Here's to a fabulous 2014, all!

Follow me on Instagram if you don't already - mhhoff!

Week 1 - A Confidence Boosting Week

And with that, week 1 of marathon training is DONE!

Here was the plan for this past week:
Monday: Body Ride at Revolve - check! :) 45 minutes of Jason Tran being awesome and me sweating my butt off. 
Tuesday: Run - check! Short tempo on the treadmill. Walked home in snow!
Wednesday: OFF - check!
Thursday: Uplift Fusion - check! So fun to do this class with Theodora, Jen, Melissa, and Laura! 
Friday: Run - check! Another morning gym run - 3 x 1600, which I felt awesome during.
Saturday: OFF - check! I was exhausted from staying up too late packing
Sunday: Run - check! 8 mile long run on the treadmill.

Mileage: 19.5

I know, I know...it's only one out of 16 weeks, but it was a really great week! I feel like it's important to have a confidence boosting week early on, too. It gives me hope that this will be doable in the end, though I have a lot of work left to do.

A little about my runs:

Tuesday tempo: 2 mi warm up, 2 mi at 7.5, 2 mi cool down. I took it easy on the warm up, starting at 6.5 and going up 0.1 every half a mile till I got to 7.0 for the last half-mile. For the first tempo run, I ran at 7.4 and felt good, so bumped it up to 7.6-7.7 for the second tempo mile. The cool down was similar to the warm up. It didn't feel easy, but it also didn't feel impossible. I'm so glad I'm getting over these fast-looking speeds and trusting myself to get them done!

Thursday intervals: 1 mi warm up, 3 x 1600m with 400m rest, 1 mi cool down. Not gonna lie - mile repeats terrified me during Chicago Marathon training, and I basically could not complete them. Looking back at my training logs back then, I see that I could not complete this workout without some serious walk breaks during the miles I was on! And I was running these repeats at a 7.6 - this workout had the mile repeats at 8.0! I felt awesome in the first one, and continued to feel good for the next two (though they were definitely more difficult as I went on!). Still, REALLY proud of this workout. I walked home from the gym with a giant smile on my face!

Sunday long run: Not much to report on this one - ran on the treadmill because it was pouring rain and I just didn't feel like dealing with it. I also felt like watching Homeland, so that is exactly what I did! I did a progressive run, starting at 6.5 for the first mile and ending at 7.0 for the last mile. It was unbearably hot in the basement so I was struggling with that aspect, but the speed didn't feel terribly difficult and my legs could keep up. Good run!

Run and Homeland followed by wine and Homeland

I'm really enjoying using the FIRST app for this training - the same training plan I used for Chicago, but with faster speeds! I'm mostly following this training plan, but I also purchased the NYRR marathon training program - it's like having a virtual partner there with you throughout training, and so far I like it! I'm planning to blend ideas from both plans, and hope that they will complement each other and my running.

The FIRST app is great - it fills in all of the speeds for me for every run, lets me switch back and forth between min/mile and mph for easy conversion, and I can check off all of the runs as I get them done (so necessary for this Type A girl). 

Check, check, check!

In addition to the app and the NYRR plan (which also has a log), I also have a Google doc that I use mostly to help me organize my Classtivity classes, but is also fun for me to tick off as I complete the workouts. 

Hot pink means I GOT IT DONE.

Speaking of Classtivity, I completed my December challenge! Granted, one of the 10 classes was a cancellation (hence the red above) due to a migraine, but I would have gone if I had felt like a human being. Ten classes in 20 days - not something I'd recommend, but I'm so glad I didn't let the pass go to waste! I'm going to miss those classes over the next two weeks, but I luckily have a couple of apps that will keep me on top of my strength workouts, and I'll be in California soon enough for lots of outdoor runs!

And here is this week's plan:

Monday: Strength workout

Tuesday: Run (speed or tempo)

Wednesday: Strength workout - plus sitting by the fire, drinking hot cocoa, and opening presents.

Thursday: Run (speed or tempo)

Friday: TBD - off?

Saturday: Long run

Sunday: TBD - off?

Have a very merry Christmas if you celebrate it! And if you don't, enjoy the day off :) 

Happy holidays all!