After three consecutive “build” weeks (52, 57 and 61 miles), it was nice to have an easier week. Sunday’s 20 miler really took a lot out of me, so the timing of the reduction in miles was pretty much perfect.
Monday: First day off since Christmas Day. Tempted to run a couple of easy miles to maintain my mini-streak, but thought better of it in the end.
Tuesday: Runervals Up, Up & Up Hill Climber DVD — lowered my base pace but still covered about 8 miles in an hour on some tortuous hills. Good fun, but still not feeling 100%.
Wednesday: An easy five miles before work, followed by four more in the mud after work. Wanted to try out a trail shoe I’ve been asked to review — the La Sportiva Wildcat GTX. Don’t think I’ll find anywhere in Virginia Beach to fully test the Wildcat, so tonight I just chose the wettest, muddiest, uneven terrain within a couple of miles. The Gore-tex membrane certainly kept my feet dry, but at 13oz the shoe is way too heavy and cumbersome for me. I do like the grippy sole though, so maybe they’ll get another outing some time in the next week or so.
Legs feeling much better than they did earlier in the week. Good news…
Thursday: An easy 4.32 miles to complete the DailyMile Ward Challenge.
Friday: Just ran an easy 5.5 miles before dinner. Looking forward to the 6k cross country race in the morning.
Saturday: Ran the Mud In Your Eye 6k and had a great time. Very muddy conditions made for a fun race at one of my favorite cross country venues. Finished 4th overall in the race and moved up from 6th to 3rd overall in the Series Standings.
Sunday: Another 20 miler to end the week (my third in January so far). Nice to run on the trails at First Landing again and although muddy, it was nothing like the conditions we had for the Seashore Nature Trail 50k last month. Ended up at the same pace as last week’s 20 miler which was pretty good considering the terrain.
Finished off the week at 52 miles. Looking to get back to the 60s this week. The Distance Series 25k on Saturday should help the cause!