Hill training, cross training, and more

Wow, it's been 4 whole days since I blogged last! I apologize for that, but I have been busy lately and went out of town for a couple days. Where do I begin?

Ok, so Tuesday the 7th was my hill workout. Andrew and I ran the hill portion of the CDR again. The hill portion is a little over 5 miles. If you remember, last time I ran the hills was about 3 weeks ago. We ran it in the daytime, with the sun beating down on us. I had to stop several times and walk. Overall, it was a very difficult run. This time was completely different! We ran it about 7:30 in the evening, so it wasn't as hot. I felt so amazing on this run. Something was just different. Actually, the past couple weeks have been pretty amazing for me. It seems I have come to a point where running is no longer very difficult for me and I am able to get my runs in and feel very comfortable. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I can get out there and knock out my runs and feel great. Anyways, back to the hill run. My first goal was to make it to Oakwood Road without having to stop and walk. This is a little over a mile of running at a pretty steep incline. Sure enough, I made it to the top without having to stop to walk. We did walk once we reached the top, but not for very long at all and I was off again. From then on, I never had to stop and walk again. I felt great. I also tested out a new hydration belt I got from the Nike outlet. People had told me that they were annoying and not to use them, but I didn't have one bit of problem with it, and rather enjoyed not having to run with a water bottle in my hand.

Hill run stats:
Distance: 5.34 miles
Time: 56:47
Ave pace: 10:38 min/mile (Look at that pace!!)
Ave HR: 170 BPM

Ok, so next was a cross training day. I went to Becca's Zumba class for an hour. Did I mention how much I love Zumba. It's so fun to break up my usual routine with some Zumba. After Zumba I went into the gym and did a couple sets of dips, pushups, lat pull-downs, and curls, and then did some core training. Didn't lift as much as I wanted to because I was also being social with Becca, as I told her I would lift with her. Overall, it was a good cross training day.

Next, I went to Weston on Thursday (about 110 mile drive from my house) to work for 2 days. I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express (don't you just love their commercials) and luckily they had a "fitness room". Their fitness room was comprised of 1 treadmill, 1 elliptical, and 1 stationary bike. Lol, it was a cute little room. I can't complain, at least they had a treadmill for me to get my run in. I did 4 miles on the treadmill, which felt like it took forever! Since I've been running all my runs outside, I absolutely cannot stand to run on the treadmill anymore. I didn't wear my HR monitor, but I checked my HR at the end, and it was between 145-150. I ran the 4 miles in approximately 45:20 at about an 11:19 pace. Nice, easy run.

I was supposed to run another 4 on Friday, but with work and driving back home afterwards, I opted for a late night dinner and some putt-putt with my husband and some friends. I beat my husband, so that was fun. I'm going to run my 4 miles today after work. Sunday is my long run day, and I'm going to do 10 miles.

So, that is the recap for my week. Again, sorry I've been missing for 4 days.

Total miles so far this week: 15