Trenn – Lehekülg 391 – Nourish, Train & Flourish

In Workout Week posts I will tell you everything about my last week’s workouts.

Monday was JJV day. Around 45 minutes of running and 50 minutes of bodyweight training. My legs were pretty tired and stiff that day so the running wasn’t great… But the weight training part was really intense and efficient. 6 stations (plank, “swimming”, lunges, wallsits, stair runs, skipping rope), 2 minutes in each with 30 seconds breaks in between. We repeated the stations 3 times. I was dripping in sweat at the end of the class –> it was a good day.

Tuesday’s BodyPump wasn’t great again… We had to move really fast and didn’t to any stretching (!). I stretched on my own after the class.

Wednesday was intervals day. Since many of us in our workout group were competing on Saturday, we had an easier day. We did 15 minutes of warm-up, stretches, running exercises and then started the intervals part: 5 min slow, steady, fast, steady and slow. All together around 40 minutes of running that day. We ended the class with core exercises and stretches.

Taken near Anne Channel in Tartu. This kind of art really makes me smile while running 🙂

On Thursday I took the BodyPump class easier to be ready for my Saturday’s race 48 hours away and not to overdo it. Muscles need some rest before racing. I reduced my weights in every track that included leg muscles and actually got a chance to concentrate more on my technique. A good class, as every single Thursday.

Friday: rest day. I did around 45 minutes of walking and a really short 15 minute easy run. Then I also stretched and started to mentally prepare for my upcoming race.

Saturday was Parkmetsa 7K Run. I had a fantastic race, summary coming next week when I have more photos to show you 🙂 I also did lots of walking and some jogging to get to the race destination (around 4 kilometres away from my house) and back.

Sunday was not a rest day in my original 21,1K training plan that I’m following but since my BodyPump and running coach Maris strongly recommended to make a rest day either on Sunday or Monday, I decided to follow her advice (since I trust her 100%) and picked Sunday for resting. My knees have been weird and a little painful this week so better be safe than sorry. I just made a nice powerwalk in the morning, all in total about 6,2K.

In total:

3 hours of running
3 hours 25 minutes of muscle workouts
3 hours 5 minutes of walking

2 rest days this week – that’s pretty new to me. But since it was race week, I needed to take it easier (and it totally paid off!). I’m also a little concerned about my knees but hopefully they will be fine since I have to be in top shape for my half-marathon. A quarter of my training plan is done. Only 9 more weeks to go. Can’t wait! 🙂

So on Saturday was another virtual running race again. I decided to do the 10K distance as always. Since the people at marathon100.com had now done a test to compare different running apps and heart rate monitors, they said that everyone using RunKeeper have to run 10,4K since RunKeeper is the most inaccurate app. Bummer! 😦

I was pretty sure that I was going to be the last one to finish this time because 1) there were only 10 people in the original starting protocol; 2) I had had 5 intense workouts in a row before the race (stupid!!!). Friday was supposed to be an easier workout day but unfortunately I screwed that one up with cycling in strong wind.

I woke up around 8 AM and quickly made some oatmeal porridge to fuel myself. I added milk, water, oats, bran, flaxseed meal, raisins and strawberry preserves. But since it was so early in the morning, I ate it before I took a picture…

I hit the road for a 600 metre warm-up around just before 10 AM. The weather was a little chilly and windy but sunny and beautiful. I was kind of worried that maybe the food will be sitting in my stomach and give me discomfort but actually porridge before my run was absolutely perfect. I felt great!

After my warm-up I set my RunKeeper up for the race. The first kilometres were kind of boring and pretty difficult: my legs were a little tired and heavy. But man I fast! First kilometre was 5:55 per km –> it sure didn’t feel like it.

By the 4th kilometre I reached Jõhvi. Running in the city is always more exciting. I always get funny looks from people since we don’t have that much runners here. I got stuck behind a red traffic light twice, that kind of messed up my “flow” but never EVER run on the road with a red light. It’s dangerous.

My legs never actually got this amazing “I’m flying” lightness this time, the lack of rest obviously had a major role. I kept pushing myself and I was pretty fast, going around 6 min per kilometre. Usually 7 minutes per km is an acceptable pace for me. Carbs are rocket fuel! 🙂 I like using rocket fuel.

Anyway, when I reached Jõhvi Concert House and the city park I was starting my 6th km and it was time to head back home. Later I heard my dad saw me from his car and even honked the horn for me but I had headphones in and didn’t hear anything. The new promenade is a good running track, I’ll be using it more often from now on. I also got pretty hot and sweaty and regretted adding another layer of clothes the last second before leaving the house.

When I reached the city border, I had around 3 more kilometres home. The wind between the fields was pretty strong but I kept telling myself that I can do it. I wondered if I could do the race under an hour but then figured out I would have to speed up a lot and decided to leave that goal for another time.

Somewhere before the 9th kilometre mark I got kind of emotional thinking about my running journey and where my pace has come since last summer. I was running around 8 min per km then, now I was going around 6 min per km. That is such good progress!

Before even noticing, it was time to speed up for the last kilometre and give it my all. I have to admit, it was damn annoying to run another 400 metres when 10K was actually done. I finished a couple hundred metres before my house. All in total I ran a little over 11K that day.

Post-run fuel: kefir, protein powder, stevia, raspberries and black currants.

When I got home, I refueled with a nice smoothie and then foam rolled every single muscle in my body (well, most of the muscles used for running). I was really really happy with myself. What a great Saturday!

Results:

My official time: 1:05:22
Official distance: 10K
Actual RunKeeper distance: 10,4K
Average pace: 6:17 min per km (improved my personal best by 31 seconds per km!)
My position: 12 (out of 13 that finished) –> I didn’t finish last, so mission accomplished again
My position among women: 7 (out of 8)
In my agegroup: 1st! (the only person in my agegroup again)