A solid training week, and 8 miles tomorrow!

Well this week went as scheduled. I did my Strength Training on Monday and Wednesday, which went pretty well. I am beginning to see some muscle definition in my arms and legs (no major 'gun shows' yet) which makes me feel good and at least gives me a visual clue that all this work is actually having results. :)

Tuesday was a nice outdoor run in the early morning for 3.6 miles at a 10:30 pace. It felt good and my breathing and cadence seemed to stay pretty consistent. I'll take this kind of run any day! Did some good stretching afterwards and didn't have any pain during or after the run. It is so nice not to have those aches in my hamstring anymore.

Thursday was another rainy morning so I had to resort to the Treadmill for my Striders. This time I ran the intervals at a 10:00 pace for 90 sec seconds, followed by 1 minute at a 12:00 pace. I did two sets of 4 with a 5-minute easy run between the two sets. I think I am going to keep the interval pace at 10:00 for the next 3 weeks and just continue to increase the time/distance for the next month or so. Then depending upon how that feels, I will change the pace to 9:30 for another 3 weeks. By then, I will be ready to start tapering down.

Friday was a rest day. It was so awesome to 'sleep in' today and leisurely get up and get ready for work. I was thinking of going to the jacuzzi in the morning but the bed was just too warm to leave!

Finishers tech shirt for Chicago Police 5KI picked up my race packet for the Chicago Police 5K Foot Chase today. Bib #367. I had to go to the Police Training and Education building in Chicago. There was NO Parking anywhere -- everything was permit parking. I finally found a place near a park about 3 blocks away. Walking into the building was kinda weird. Police in halls, etc. Kinda felt like an episode of America's Most Wanted, and I was going to be mistaken for a hoodlum or something. LOL I got my packet with no problems, of course. The tech shirt is totally awesome! Can't wait to finish the race and be able to do my run training with this nice long-sleeved shirt!

Tomorrow is my LSR -- 8 miles. This is the longest run I have taken to-date. This may be the first run where I will have to bring fueling with me because at my LSR pace, this is going to take me at least 1.5 hours to complete. I think I am going to try a GU for this run -- run for 45 minutes, take the GU with water, and then run for another 45 minutes. I want to see how this works for me. Up until now, my runs haven't really been long enough to bring anything along other than water. The weather is going to be chilly -- mid to upper 30s -- so I will also be testing out my layering choices to see if they keep me comfortable for the longer run.

Given that my week started Sunday with the Pumpkin Stampede 5K, my total miles for this week is going to be 18. The weekly miles continue to climb upward. Woo Hoo!