I’ve booked my flights.

It’s more than official, I AM running Phoenix in Feb. OK, it’s been official for a while but booking flights makes it seem real!

Last week’s training went pretty well, until it came to the weekend long run and exhaustion just took over. The combination of full time placement (I’m working 8.30-4.30 in a hospital), nannying five nights last week and my personal training course just became too much. After a late night on Saturday at a 30th, where I didn’t get into bed until 2am, when the alarm went at 6.30am I just couldn’t force myself out of bed. An extra hour of sleep, didn’t even do the trick and I dragged my sorry self to my penultimate weekend at No 1 Fitness for a day of learning.

It seems that everyone was feeling as ill and tired as I was, as we needed copious cups of tea/coffee/hot chocolate and gingerbread men to get us through the day.

I want to write another post about laziness vs exhaustion, and when you know you’re skipping a run because you’re listening to your body, and when you’re simply skipping it because you can’t be bothered…but safe to say, this run was missed because my body did not have the energy.

Monday: Barrecore

Tuesday: Track Tuesday – 400m repeats, 8 sets. I love that the whole group did 400s at their own pace (and their own reps). My favourite thing about having buddies to do track with is that it pushes me to stay honest, not give up and to have someone to high five at the end.

You can join us at 7am Paddington track every Tues – sign up here. Oh and there’s free coffee post run from a lovely independent coffee shop (who often gives free cake too…)

My goal for this workout was 6.35-40 pace with 200m easy jogs. I think I did quite well on most of the reps to hit the pace, and I can feel the speed coming back into my legs!

1 mile warm up – 9.28

400s (6.35, 6.42, 6,50, 6.24, 6,37, 6.29, 6.31, 6,17 – ending on a speedy one!)

1 mile cool down – 9.40

Wednesday: 4 mile run commute (8.46 average) – testing out running backpacks. This week I ran back to Notting Hill on my way to nannying and had a quick coffee with my Mum. Pretty sure she was slightly horrified by how sweaty I was!

Barrecore Stretch class in the evening, spending 45 mins foam rolling and stretching out to music feels so amazing!

Thursday: Tempo Tuesday, I’ve been building up the mileage at 7.30-45 pace and this week was 2 x 1.5 miles with 30 second rest between. SMASHED IT – albeit a little fast.

1 mile warm up – 9.24

1.5 miles – 7.17 and 7.22 pace

1.5 miles – 7.20 and 7.43 pace

1 mile cool down 9.23 pace

Friday: PT session with Harvey working on mobility and stabilisation, and a class with Tashi. I was sore but feel like a combination of strength classes and mobility work will make a big difference this time around – just need to spread my week out a little more. I know it isn’t ideal but unfortunately, this is just the way my schedule works at the moment.

Saturday: Another reason I think I had zero energy for my Sunday long run was because Saturday should have been my rest day. However, it actually turned into a full morning of intense workouts on our PT course – I could barely moved after the 21/15/9 burpee squat set we did!

Sunday: See above essay – REST DAY 

Overall this week I’ve felt good, a little tired but happy to be hitting the paces. I’m nervous about how much work there is ahead but excited to put the effort in and see what I can achieve!

Have you read my blog on my thoughts on the new Boston Marathon qualifying times?