So it appears I’m getting the hang of this training thing again. As much as I enjoyed my break after the Hamburg Marathon, it’s also nice to be working towards a goal again. Bremen Half Marathon, I’m coming for you!
Monday: 30 minutes of swimming. I always feel so accomplished after a swim, mostly for having stuck it out the entire 30 minutes. I’m not a fan of having to share the pool with screaming kids doing cannonballs off the diving board. It’s just not that relaxing. Yes, there are a couple lanes reserved for the real swimmers, but I’m too self-conscious about my slowness and poor form to join their lanes, so I make do with doing laps in the open swim part of the pool. Honestly, the pool situation could be improved. We’ll see.
Tuesday: Planned rest day. (But I did sweat completely through all of my clothes at the Mudhoney show, so there’s that.)
Wednesday: Unplanned rest day. Should have done my easy run, but just didn’t.
Thursday: Easy 3-mile run along the Osterdeich.
Friday: 3-mile tempo run + 15-minute strength training. 1 mile warm-up, 1-mile tempo pace, 1-mile cool down. At the moment, I’m doing my speed and tempo workouts by effort. It was incredibly warm and humid that evening, which my body is definitely not used to, so I didn’t want to set a pace that wouldn’t make sense in that kind of weather. For that middle mile, I settled into a pace that was challenging, but that I could hold for the entire mile (but maybe not for longer).
Saturday: Easy 3-mile run in the Bürgerpark. I was essentially running in the midday heat, so I took it very slow.
Sunday: 6-mile run, mid-morning, on one of the hottest days we’ve had so far this summer. Despite being drenched in sweat and drinking a liter of water during my run, I felt pretty solid.
That’s it for this week! All in all: four days of running, one day of cross-training, and two rest days. This week I’m going to make more of an effort to do more strength training and to get my runs in earlier in the week instead of bunching them all around the weekend. Hope you have a great start to your week!