Wow, this training cycle has been a flop so far.  Last week I had very little time and apparently little motivation to make my training runs fit into my crazy schedule.  This week I came down with the sniffles on Thursday and prioritized sleep over everything else.  Somehow I make speed training and cross-training sessions happen because they’re at the beginning of the week, but my tempo and and long runs are suffering.  Ah well, three more weeks of training before the Bremen 10K.  All I can do is  buckle down and make my runs count.

Let’s start with last week’s session, where I discovered the joys of cycling as a mode of cross-training:

• Monday, cross-training: Why did it take me so long to figure out that cycling is a nice way to balance out my running?  I did about 7 miles in 30 minutes, worked up a nice sweat, and wasn’t too sore the next day.  I’m sold!
• Tuesday: Rest
• Wednesday, speed training: Plan was warm-up + 5 x 800m @ 4:22 + cool-down. I hit all five repeats on the nail: 4:23, 4:21, 4:24, 4:20, 4:22. Last time I did this workout (two weeks ago), it just about killed me and I could only manage four repeats. This time I felt great — I was pushing hard, but at the same time I could keep going and do all five. Yes!
• Thursday, unplanned rest day: Should have woken up early to do a tempo run, but it didn’t happen.  Made my way to Berlin for WEBMU that night, so Thursday was a wash.
• Friday, cross-training: In between WEBMU events, I had enough time to do Level 2 of Killers Buns & Thighs. It kind of sucked though because none of the moves are very knee friendly and I ended up substituting other moves to make up for it.
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday, unplanned rest day:  Had an 8-mile run planned for the morning, but when none of the bloggers wanted to join for a part of it, I pushed it back to the afternoon, and then I was just too exhausted by the time I made it home.  Fail.

And this past week, unfortunately, was not much better…

• Monday, cross-training: Double Shred workout, Levels 2 and 3.  That was not easy!
• Tuesday, speed training: Plan was warm-up + 4 x 1000 meters @ 5:30 + cool-down. I didn’t hit my target pace even once, which is kind of disappointing, but I kept pushing it through all four repeats: 5:36, 5:42, 5:48, 5:48. There aren’t so many more speed workouts before the 10K, so I won’t get to improve at this distance, but hopefully it will still benefit my race.
• Wednesday, cross-training: This time I decided to do one of the cycling workouts listed in the Run Less, Run Faster training plan, and managed a 8-minute warm-up at an easy level, 30 minutes of moderately hard cycling, and a 7-minute cool-down at an easy level.  Somehow I managed 13 miles in those 45 minutes.  Not bad!
• Thursday, unplanned rest day: Had a tempo run planned, but was feeling under the weather and came home early from work and went straight to bed.
• Friday: Rest
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday, long run:  I spent all of Saturday sleeping and barely moving, so I decided a little bit of running to stimulate my immune system would do me good.  Although I had an 8-mile run on my calendar, I went for an easy, relaxed 5.25 miles instead.  I was definitely shuffling along and pretty exhausted afterwards, but it was also good for me mentally.

That’s all I have for you folks, wish it was more exciting.  But I’m determined to make these next three weeks of training count!  That’s the only way I’m even going to get close to PR’ing, let alone reaching my (secret) goal of running a 10K in under an hour.  Wish me luck!