Speaking of my running schedule, this is what I’ve been doing:

3 runs a week. (after this next race, if I’m feeling good, I’ll increase that to 4). The first run is a short 2-3 mile easy run at about a little more than 2 minutes/mile slower than my race pace. The second run is some sort of speed work. It’s usually 5 miles in total and starts with a warm up mile and ends with a cool down mile. The three miles in the middle are where I really push myself. One week I did mile long repeats at a certain speed with half mile recovery running in between and another week I did 3 miles at a little slower than my race pace, but much faster than my “easy run” pace. The third run I do is a “long run”. That’s run at an “easy run” pace. The purpose is to build endurance and strength. So, it’s not about finishing it as fast as I can, it’s about getting my body strong enough to sustain running for a longer period of time. My long run this coming week will be 7 miles.

If you’re interesting in seeing the caluculator for training pace, check out the McMillan running calculator. You need to enter a recent race time and it fills in the rest.

On my non-running days I cross-train by biking or walking.

I’m also working on the 100 push-ups challenge. I’ve finished the first two weeks. I started it last fall and didn’t complete it. This time I’m really working at it. I just finished my test for the end of the second week. I did 21 push-ups before collapsing on the floor. That’s girl push-ups, by the way! I have only attempted the modified version. It’s a fun challenge. It doesn’t take a lot of time and doesn’t require any special equipment.

I was really disciplined with my eating and exercise last week, but my weigh-in was not good. I was up almost 2 pounds. I was bummed, but I don’t think there was anything I could have done. Next week should be really good, right?

We enjoyed having Nathan off work this last week. I’m going to really miss him when he’s off to work tomorrow. We love having him around! He has also been working hard at watching what he’s eating and working out. He biked 15 miles one day! I’m very proud of the work he’s doing.

I guess that’s all for now. I’m feeling sleepy!