IT'S PEAK WEEK!

Hey all! Hope this week is treating you well! As for me? It's RNR Seattle Marathon Training Peak Week! WOOOO! So far, so good! I took a rest day on Monday, but was right back at it with a speed workout Tuesday at lunch. I LOVE leaving the office mid-day to run or workout--it's such a nice way to break up the workday, and I always have so much energy when I finish! Sadly, I'm almost always too busy to squeeze it in, but when it happens, it is DEFINITELY a treat! At any rate, I took a late lunch on Tuesday and headed over to my gym around 3:00 p.m. I hopped on the 'mill and completed a 10 minute warm-up before tackling one of the easier speed interval sessions of my training: 5 x (2 mins. fast + 2 mins. easy). I took the "fast" repeats at a 7:42/pace, and the "easy" intervals at a 10:00/pace. Before I knew it, I had completed all 5 repeats and it was time to cool down for 10 minutes! I'm happy to say that the workout felt pretty darn easy, and at this point in training, that's always a good thing!

Next up, I had a cross-training day scheduled yesterday . . . but wouldn't you know, it was NATIONAL RUNNING DAY! Um, is it just me or does it seem criminal not to run on National Running Day? Thus, I opted for a 4-mile easy run (10:00/pace) followed by 15 minutes of core work (with my BFF, the 12-lb. medicine ball) and 15 minutes of biceps/triceps work. Not bad at all! I arrived home around 9:45 p.m.--STARVING--to find turkey tacos and homemade guacamole ready to eat! Have I mentioned that Wilson is the bestest boyfriend ever? I begged him to let us watch a running movie while we ate (specifically, Spirit of the Marathon) in honor of National Running Day, but apparently he's not as big of a running nerd as I am and he wasn't in the mood for my kick-ass workout endorphin induced super-heightened running nerd-ness. Ha, oops! He did promise me that at some point closer to RNR Seattle (eek, just over three weeks!!!!!), we will watch Spirit of the Marathon.

Up for today, I have an 8-mile marathon pace run. Um, I still haven't quite figured out what my marathon pace is going to be . . . I know, I know. I should probably get on that, eh? I'm thinking at this point, I'll probably start out with the 4:20 pacers. I want to start REALLY conservatively--even if I risk starting TOO conservatively--as I think that will give me the best chance of hanging in there until the end. But as for tonight, I'm guessing I'll probably tackle the run at about a 9:30/pace.

As I like to keep things interesting, I will be playing in an indoor soccer match at 9 p.m. tomorrow night. I had originally told my team that I was unavailable (um, hi! Some of us have 20 miles to run this weekend) . . . but my team consists of a bunch of losers who SAID they wanted to play but now refuse to show up to the games (probably a third of the people who originally signed up haven't even made it to ONE GAME yet--and we've already played 7 games!). As it was looking like we'd have to forfeit, I reluctantly agreed to show up on Friday night. GRRR. But just so we're clear, I plan on doing little more than standing around on the field and kicking at the ball if it happens to come near me. I'll be damned if I'm going to get injured at this point in training!

Saturday, I'll probably do some light cross-training and rest a whole lot. Then Sunday is the day--my 20-miler! After that, it's TAPER TIME, baby! I fully expect to go REALLY crazy this time around, especially considering I feel kind of undertrained. But, as we all know, the taper is a necessary evil . . . and there's nothing I can do in the last three weeks that will increase my fitness enough to matter anyway . . . yada, yada, yada! Just have to keep that stuff in mind . . .

Hope you all had a very happy National Running Day! I'll be catching up with you all by this weekend, I promise! I just can't figure out where the time keeps going . . .

We're almost to Friday, folks. Hang in there!