I can see the finish line! This week had my longest run for training at 12.5 miles. I did not have a good training week overall since I was hit with more 12+ hour work days. I still got my run done though, and man was I beat. I didn’t get in all of the running during the week that I needed, and due to me be exhausted nonstop I did a lot of cycling as always. Only one more week of this project!

Monday 2/15

I am not sure why, but my body felt wrecked today. My day was definitely a lot more stressful than normal, but that should not have impacted me to much. Even though I ended up doing a 33 minute trainer ride, I still my NTC Wake-up Warm-up to get loose. It definitely helped a lot. My ride was pretty good thanks to that, with my back and knees feeling fine afterwards. Nike Run Club had called for a 6.25 mile endurance run, but even though I had the time, I just wasn’t feeling up to running.

Tuesday 2/16

NRC called for a speed workout of 8 x 1000 meters. Instead, I decided to do Monday’s 6.25 mile endurance run instead. My main reason for this is that my overall mileage has been significantly lower than it should be. I did my NTC warm-up and got into the run. Sadly, I was feeling kind of rough and stopped at 5 miles. You can see towards the end I had to take much longer breaks. What’s really interesting is that my heart rate wasn’t very high during the whole run, even though I felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. Fatigue may mostly be mental, but mentally I am shot from all of the work stress. I was still happy to get in the 5 miles though.

Wednesday 2/17

For my rest day I wanted to do some strength training and some cycling. I did my NTC warm-up and then did my same basic strength routine that I did last week. Everything from the warm-up to each set in the strength session felt like an epic task. It was already about 11pm so I called it a night.

Thursday 2/18

Today’s schedule was a 6 x 400 meter speed workout. Since I didn’t finish work until after 9pm, I decided to just relax on the trainer and watch some shows. I ended up getting in a 45 minute ride and that really helped me clear my mind and just forget about my day. Once in a while it’s more important to focus on your mental health than your training; and this was definitely one of those times for me.

Friday 2/19

Another super late work day, so instead of my planned NTC workout I did a trainer ride again. As usual, I went for 45 minutes and watched some fun shows. I am definitely a bit nervous for my long run with not getting much running in this week.

Saturday 2/20

Today was the big day; 12.5 mile long run. Did cleaning so I decided against my long run. My back was already a bit sore. I did my NTC warm-up and then proceeded to hopefully run for 5 to 6 miles. I only got in a little over 4 miles. I felt good overall, so I didn’t want to push things and I called it early. In hindsight, I should have gone a little further.

Sunday 2/21

No excuses today; or so I thought. I was not motivated at all to get in my long run. Mentally I had no focus or drive. I tried to find almost any possible task around the house so I could not run. Well, better late than never they always say. I finally got ready to run a little before 7pm. I did my NTC warm-up and my 5 minute walk. I prepped 2 water bottles, both with Nuun Energy. I also had 2 Honey Stinger gels and 2 packs of Honey Stinger chews. I queued up a nice long movie with a lot of action to keep my mind off of the run, and away I went! As always, I did my Galloway intervals of 2 minutes running, 30 seconds walking. Aside from 3 segments where I need to walk for about 2-3 intervals, I hit the rest of my intervals. Not only that, I hit the 12.5 miles! I was so excited.

My Apple Watch thought I ran 14.44 miles, but oh well. As I have mentioned before, I am not really focused on too many stats right now. The biggest focus has been on consistency with my workouts and how I feel during and after my workouts. In addition, I have focused on heart rate trends. I want to emphasize that I have not been doing any zone training at all. I have no intention or need for something as specific as zone training. I have just focused on the trends.