This week Carol was out of town and she invited me to substitute for her in her Monday/Wednesday women’s running program. I’m inspired, as you may guess, by women (like many in Carol’s classes) who push past their inner barriers and take up running as adults (or renew their commitment to it). This quarter, in fact, I had the privilege of writing about some of the women in Carol’s programs in Adventures Northwest magazine (for an online version of my first ever ANW article many moons ago, see this!). Pick up the current issue on news stands around Whatcom County now to read about how Carol inspires us all to do our best and make our running more effective.
This week I got the chance to directly cheer on Carol’s program participants along with my own workouts.
Sunday: Wow, I can’t even remember what I did on Sunday. My guess is that it was a slow three mile run (that tells you how busy this week has been).
Monday: Speed work. 25 minutes of running one lap hard on the track followed by a half lap of slow recovery.
Tuesday: Just a slow walk.
Wednesday: Pace work. 25 minutes of running two laps at a 10K pace and one lap of recovery. Because I was coaching and timing others, my workouts consisted of warm-ups and cool downs in both the morning and evening classes and two sets of drills, core exercises and stretches. I did about a hundred lunges, which made me super sore.
Thursday: Seven miles with friends (thanks Janna and Bill).
Friday: Three slow miles.
Saturday: I plan to do 14 or 15 miles–feeling ready to get beyond the half marathon distance for my long run. I’m considering doing the Vancouver Marathon on May 5, so I really need to ramp up to get ready.
This week has also been a remarkable week for me because my new book has shown up in bookstores, and we’ve had some media interest. I find book promotion fascinating but hard and have been especially grateful for my commitment to running this week. I want to give a huge shout out and thanks to those of you who have wished me well this week. Especially to my running pals who understand how running keeps us grounded: Thanks.
Oh, and also thanks to whoever arranged for the sunshine this week! It was amazing and uplifting to see the sky. I understand we’re in for a sunny weekend in the Northwest. Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate. You’ll have a great day for egg hunts.
