I’m in an interesting season of training right now. There really isn’t any particular race I’m training for. However, I would like to get myself going on 2 gym workouts and 2 training runs per week. Two weeks ago, I got the 2 gym workouts in and 1 run. This past week, it was the opposite. Three workouts in a week is not awful, but it’s not hitting my goal either. So, I’m still a running daddy work in progress. Let’s look at how the week shaped up…

Tuesday was my only gym workout for the week. This was a workout that I worked really hard to get through.

I got in my 4 x 400’s on the treadmill. I was running at 6.0mph and walking at 3.7mph. On my gym workout before this one, I did some experimenting on what would work. The speed is slower than I’m used to running in the outdoors. I know that I’ll eventually figure it out. In each run 400, I made it more than half way before feeling the need to check out where I was at. This was better than the previous 4 x 400 on the treadmill. I was also pleased that I felt better during each interval. I think the hardest interval was the first one (weird). The middle two were the easiest. The last run interval was a little taxing, but not too bad.

Here’s where the big win of this gym workout happened. After going through my weights reasonably well, I actually finished all 27 minutes on the elliptical machine! This is a first since I put the 4 x 400’s back into the gym routine! It was a total battle. At around 9 minutes, I started the negotiations with myself….get to 15 minutes…20 minutes…25 minutes…oh, man, just finish the cool down and be done. It was hard. But, I’m very proud of myself for getting all the way to the finish!

On Thursday, I got out for a 3 mile run! Yay! Two mid-week workouts! I was a little tired at the start. I even tried talking myself out of running. However, I knew it was very important to build back running habits. So, off I went. Run 30 seconds, walk 90 seconds. I got off a little fast. However, I corrected in the second half of mile 1. I finished mile 1 in just over 12 minutes. I’ve been faster but was satisfied. Mile 2 was going to be the slow mile. I knew it. So, the focus was on making all my run/walk intervals and let the time be what it was going to be. It was a pretty good plan. As I get close to the end of miles, I try to guess where I’ll end up. I thought I’d be at 24:30 at the end of mile 2. I finished mile 2 at 24:21. So, 9 seconds faster than expected! Hey…I’ll take the small victories when they come. As I started mile 3, I wondered if I cold make up all that time and finish at or under 36 minutes. I came oh so close. My 3rd mile was my fastest at 11:45. However I finished in 36:07. Ugh! 7 seconds slow. Oh well. I almost got there. It felt amazing to have finished two mid-week workouts in the same week again!

On Saturday, I really wanted to run in the daylight again. I had hoped I could get out the door reasonably early to beat some of the heat coming later in the day. Little guy had other ideas. It was alright as I started around 10am. The temps were not too bad to begin the run. That wasn’t the case by the time I finished. I haven’t run in the morning since my 9 mile run the Sunday before Colton joined our house. Let’s be honest about this run…it was slow. My legs felt like I was running through molasses the entire way. Even with that feeling, I was actually faster in mile 1 than on Thursday. I finished mile 1 in 11:55! Score! Under 12 minutes! I knew that this victory would be my only one for the day. I was pushing really hard just to get there. Mile 2 saw more time in the sun and the temps were starting to rise. Now, this isn’t summer kind of heat yet. But, it’s not running at night either. Mile 2 was my unraveling. By the end, I was at 24:28. I knew I was slower than Thursday. I felt slower than Thursday. But, I was still ahead of 24:30. Mile 3 is largely in the sun for this route during the day. So, I just kept on running. I was a full 30 seconds slower over this mile than on Thursday. The finish time was 36:45. To be honest, I was tired by the end and just happy that it didn’t get to 37 minutes. But, hey! I got 2 training runs in for the week! All seemed like I’d finally get that elusive 4th workout…

Well, on Sunday, I fell victim to poor day planning. As a result, the entire day got away from me. Before I knew it, the time was too late for that last gym workout. So, the lesson for the week is to simply plan better. I need to head into my weekends with a better idea of everything that needs to get done. Hopefully, this week I’ll get back to the 4 workout goal.