Finished In The Mud

Wednesday was a lazy morning that turned into a big fat "0" for the morning. I woke up tired and really just didn't want to run. I will give myself one day a week at the most to do that. A person knows when they are being lazy and when you really need a day off. I was somewhere in the middle of all that and when it lands on a recovery run morning I am less likely to fight it. In the end, more times than not, your legs thank you for the rest.

Total: 0 miles

Thursday was back to a more structured workout of sorts. I decided on 1k repeats but as I jogged past the track something told me to avoid it. I am still a bit leary of all the turns a track workout can dish out. My achilles has been so good, I don't want to blow it on some workout I can mimic on the roads. That is what I did. I did 5 x 3 minutes at 5:10-5:15 pace with 90 seconds rest between intervals. West Skyline has fairly tame terrain so that was my stomping grounds.

Here is how the workout unfolded.

3.4 mile warm up

3:00 at 5:16 pace

3:00 at 5:04 pace

3:00 at 5:16 pace

3:00 at 5:17 pace

3:00 at 5:17 pace

200 meter, 400 meter sprint

3.5 mile warm down

Total: 11 miles

Friday I woke up to sunlight and decided to run a new route and mix in some trails. I ran through Woodland neighborhoods and worked my way to Hartley before making a final loop to Rock Hill. Legs felt great and the trails were in great shape.

Total: 1:05:30 8.4 miles

Saturday we went camping on the North Shore to Temperance State Park. The morning was great and we took in the action at the Superior Trail Races. There was a 50K and 25K that had a maximum field of 250 runners. The runners were blessed with no rain and mostly dry trails. As we were leaving the race, the rain started and never let up until the next morning. My plan was to run 90 minutes on the trail near Temperance but that never materialized so I took another "0". I cant remember when I last took more than one day off in a week. Again, I tried not to beat myself up over it and enjoyed the weekend.

Total: 0 miles

Sunday was another rainy day and we made it back to Duluth rather early. After a little snack I decided to hit the trails for some loops and ended up hitting Rock Hill, Hartley, Amity Creek, Lester and returned home. I misjudged the Lester loop and ended up running a bit longer than planned but all was good. One gel got me through the ordeal and for the most part my legs were happy.

Total: 2:21:21 18.1 miles (trails)

Weeks Total: 56 miles

Years Total: 998.4 miles