TC 10 Mile and Loony Challenge Just TWO WEEKS AWAY!

It's gonna happen, folks. I had some big achilles issues less than 8 weeks ago, but I gave that rest, got it healed up (or should I say "heeled" up?) and I'm looking OK for the TC 10 Mile!

My last 2 big "training update" posts were this post from 2 weeks ago when I actually felt good enough to do intervals on the track, along with a long run of 8.25 miles. And this post from last weekend where I noted a brutal tempo/interval/fartlek-style speed workout that I did.

So last week (Sept 7-13) consisted of a moderate 6 miler on Tuesday, an average distance ride on Wednesday, that hard run workout I posted about on Thursday, 55 minutes on the trainer on Friday, rest Saturday, and a long run of 10 MILES on Sunday! I didn't go "all out" in the 10 mile so I wouldn't injure myself: I told myself to hold around 6:20s for 5 miles in the middle. I did 6:31, 6:15, 6:21, 6:15, and 6:15 for a 6:19.6 average. Nailed it.

This week was also the first week where my total running mileage was more than
the 19.3 miles I'll be racing over 25 hours for the Loony Challenge next month.

This past week (Sept 14-now) looked similar. It started with an easy spin during the boys' naps on Monday. Then I did an easy 6 on Tuesday with Charlie:

(As seen in Wednesday's post.)

Wednesday was another average distance ride, and Thursday was a hard run: I had a little time after class and before I had to get the boys, so I did a 2 mile WU, 3 miles all out, and a 2 mile CD. My 3 hard miles had a nice descend: half miles of 3:04, 3:04, 3:01, 2:59, 2:56, and 2:52 for 17:56 total. (Which wasn't as fast as I had hoped, but it was SUPER humid and I had a cold, so I just did what I could.) Friday was rest, and today was another long run: 11.5 MILES! I had planned on running 6 "faster" in the middle (build for a mile and run 5 at 6:20 pace), but my legs were heavy and crappy, and I only did 5.5 fast, and added that extra 0.5 mile to my CD. I did those 5.5 miles in 35:06, or 6:22.90 pace.

I hope to do a longer ride tomorrow, rest Monday, maybe an easy 6-7 miler on Tuesday, and then maybe 1 more "shorter long run" of around 10 miles on Thursday before starting to scale back in the final 10 days leading up to the race weekend. After that, I'll be doing shorter, "snappier" workouts to keep the legs fresh.