Week 6 started out rough. We drove back from San Francisco in just one day (originally we thought we might get a hotel halfway) and got home late. I slept terribly all week on vacation and was exhausted but luckily since Mike had taken the day off on Monday (and he’s wonderful), he let me sleep in and I got 10 hours of sleep! But I was still lethargic and feeling pretty terrible on Monday.
Our vacation concluded two months of over-indulging and I was feeling it. I’m normally take the 80/20 approach to nutrition – I eat healthy 80% of the time. However, these past couple of months that ratio fell way down and my mood, energy levels and the scale showed it! I had anticipated this a bit and scheduled a 21 Day Fix Challenge Group to start on August 29th, the day we returned from vacation. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect and after a week of eating healthy, avoiding alcohol, getting in my runs and strength training, I feel SO much better. I lost two of the four pounds I put on over the last couple of months and my energy levels are way up.
Here’s how the week turned out:
Monday: Upper Fix Extreme. This was all I had energy for! 
Tuesday: 8 mile run. My mother in law came over to watch Siena half day so I had a chance to run on my own (waking up early was not an option – still so tired from vacation). I went for my run at the hottest part of the day, but it was worth it.
Wednesday: 4.5 mile run with Allison in the morning and Lower Fix (regular) in the afternoon.
Thursday: 6 miles with 6 x 800 intervals on the treadmill. This was a tough workout – I did not feel great and my pace for the 800s was slower than the last time I did it, but I got through it and felt so much better afterward.
Friday: 21 Day Fix Yoga (regular). I took Siena to a baby sign language and music class at the library and went for an hour walk with my friend Shahara afterward and that afternoon during Siena’s nap got in a MUCH needed yoga session. I had actually planned to do Pilates and/or Dirty 30 but decided to save my legs for my long run the next day. I felt 10x better afterward. 
Saturday: 19 mile run. I met friends down in Mission Bay for this run. We ran as a group for the first half and the second half the faster runners took off ahead which was fine with me. A new friend I made in the group and I ran side by side, suffering together, for the final miles, without speaking much. Running is funny like that – we are bonded by our misery! 
Sunday: 4.5 mile run and 21 Day Fix Pilates Extreme. Mike and I took Siena out on the trails near our house for the first time (we usually head to the coast for stroller runs). Luckily Mike pushed the entire time because this was meant to be a recovery run for me and it was tough for him to get the stroller on some of the sections of the route due to hills and sand (sometimes both). That afternoon during Siena’s nap I got in Pilates Fix. I had hoped to do five Fix workouts this week but was happy with the four I did. My legs felt much better than I expected the day after a 19 mile run – I really think the active recovery helped!
Weekly Totals:
- Miles Run: 42
- Strength Training: ~2 hours
This was the highest mileage week I’ve had in a long time and it felt pretty good! I’ve pretty much ditched the Hal Higdon plan and am basically making up my own training at this point. I’m trying rot get my long runs to line up with the group who is training for the Marina Corps Marathon (one week before NY). Otherwise, my goal for each week is to do a long run, a mid-week long run (8-10 miles), one speed/tempo/hill workout and two easy runs. The order of workouts changes each week based on how I’m feeling and who I want to run with. I’m finding that it’s taking me longer to recover than it has in the past and I’m not going to push it with two speed workouts per week. I’m considering adding in some strides to a second run during the week but that’s about it. I may add in some race pace miles during the end of my long runs as the race approaches, but that’s TBD! Honestly at this point I don’t even know what race pace is.
How’s your training going? Do you like to follow a plan exactly to change it week to week depending on how you’re feeling?
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