Quite possibly the hardest workout I've ever done

Ok, so the title is overstating it, it wasn't that bad, but it was a toughie.  First, apologies, I've been neglecting the blog lately, a lot is going on in life and I will divulge more at a later date, but for now, I'll update on my running.

Last week was a relatively low mileage week, then this week ramped up again.  I did 29 total, and have been adding in more and more resistance work, which is paying dividends in my running and my body shape :)

Tuesday was my 30 min easy run- I didn't bother with the cadence drills this time, mainly because it was so cold I didn't want the walking breaks between them.  Then when I got home I did resistance work that encorporated the strength programme in P&D as well as kettlebels.  I think I overdid it a bit on the kettlebels as my hamstrings were still sore on Thursday.  Suffice to say I didn't run on Wednesday.  Thursday, it was very cold again, so I retreated to the gym for a 50 minute hill session on the treadmill followed again by resistance work.  This was awesome, I had #willpower, will I am's album blasting in my ears, and was really pumped after.

Friday, I did the session I should have done on Wednesday, which was 60 minutes with 3 miles at marathon pace.  I felt really strong during the marathon pace section.  Really glad that I'm already encorporating race pace into longer runs.

Saturday, I had my gym instructor assessment and I passed with distinction for the preparation and merit for the practical :)

Today I did another workout form Jeff Galloway's book, which involved 2 mile repeats.  Galloway had a very complicated explanation of how he wants you to do this, but I simplified it to 2 miles at 8:10 pace , followed by 7 minutes rest.  The programme sets 2 or 3 repeats at this stage,  but feeling overconfident from passing my exams, I decided I would go for 5 repeats.  This would get me closer to the high mileage I was aiming for this week.

Reps were as follows:

Rep 1: 8:04 avg pace

Rep 2: 8:05 avg pace

Rep 3: 8:08 avg pace

Rep 4: 8:15 avg pace- this one felt like the first mile was all uphill and my leg muscles started to tighten considerably during this rep- ie fatigue.  I knew it wouldn't be sensible to push it any more, as I didn't want to get an injury, just for the sake of another rep.  My body was teaching me that lesson about not building up too quickly

Rep 5 ended up a jog walk at 10:15.  Still, I did 8 miles at faster than marathon pace, when all my training lately has been marathon pace or slower.  12.92 miles in 2:11:28, not bad given the 7 minute walking breaks!