I kind of dropped the ball during my second week of training for the Hamburg Half.  I knew I’d be heading out of town for the weekend, and would most likely have limited running possibilites, but that apparently wasn’t enough of a motivator to try to squeeze all my workouts in.  But in any case, here’s how it went…

• Monday, cross-training + leg work: Did a 40-minute workout on the fitness bike.  I used to dismiss cycling as a form of exercise, but if you increase the difficulty setting, it’s an awesome workout!
• Tuesday, tempo run + core work:  I actually had butterflies in my stomach before this run.  My attempted speed workout last week was so disappointingly painful and I was afraid it would happen again.  But, there was no more pain leftover from my fall on the ice!  So I had a really great run — did 2 miles warm up, 2 miles at 9:34 pace, and 1 mile cool down.  The first tempo mile felt awesome, and the second required a little more effort, but was still totally manageable.  Felt like I could have run faster, so I’ll give that a try next week.
• Wednesday, rest:  Tired legs plus evening plans meant that I bagged my cross-training.
• Thursday, rest: Oops, still resting. Should have done a speed workout.
• Friday, long run: I wanted to sneak in my long run before working that morning, but it was snowing like crazy when my alarm went off, and I was exhausted, so I went back to sleep.
• Saturday & Sunday, rest: Gausdal.

Despite a disappointing second week, I nailed all my workouts in Week 3.  Even so, it was an emotionally rough week to be a runner.  My Monday run was actually to celebrate Marathon Monday, and it wasn’t until I was going to bed here in Oslo that things started to go terribly wrong.

• Monday, speed work: 10 minutes warm up, 4 x 1km @ 5:39, 7 minutes cool down.  Didn’t have too much of a problem with the pace, but it was so hot in the gym and that made the whole run unpleasant.
• Tuesday, cross-training + leg work:  10.7 miles on the fitness bike in 45 minutes. Definitely feeling down and thinking of Boston.
• Wednesday, tempo run:  I found out about the weekly run that takes place near where I’m staying in Oslo and felt an intense need to be outside with other runners, so I incorporated it into my planned 5-mile tempo run.  I ran 2 miles warm-up, 2 miles at 9:25, 1 mile cool-down.  I should be running these tempo miles at 9:11 according to my training plan — but I still hit a pace that was nearly 10 seconds faster than I was hitting during my last training cycle, and I don’t consider myself in particularly top form at the moment, so I was pretty pleased.  I think I can still kick it up a notch and am looking forward to see what I can do in my next few tempo runs!
• Thursday, cross-training + leg work. 11.1 miles on the fitness bike in 45 minutes. Plus about 15 minutes of leg strength training.
• Friday, rest: My legs were really feeling the four days of tough workouts, so it was good to take it easy.
• Saturday, long run: Beautiful sunny day, so I ran three loops around Sognsvann lake and hit about 7.4 miles in 1 hour, 22 minutes.  Not my speediest run ever, but I was mostly focused on just enjoying myself and getting in the miles that have been lacking in my training so far.
• Sunday, rest:  Spent nearly 7 hours on the train between Oslo and Trondheim, so opted for another rest day.

Even though I’m in a brand new city for the week, I’m hoping I’ll be able to maintain my training momentum!

Speaking of, does any one have any tips to share on what I should see in Trondheim?