Week 3 training recap.

Last week's weight: 155
Today's weight: 153.5

Body Fat: 11.5%
Eating Scale: 6 out of 10

Total distance this week (January 20-28): 80K

Monday: Total day of rest. I decided not to work out today in preparation for my tempo run with Coach Ken on Tuesday. This was something that I am still getting used to because I love to do something physically active each day but I resisted the urge.

Tuesday: The day of rest and proper sleep the night before paid huge dividends as I had my best tempo run so far. I ended up running the 10K route in 48:22 which worked out to a 4:51 pace. When I factored in the warm up and cool down part of the tempo, my pace was around a 4:30 to 4:40 kilometer clip. I was definitely winded and pushing it for most of the way.

Wednesday: I did a comfortable 14 k run with an average pace of 5:43. It was nice and very necessary to take it slowly today as I was feeling a little sore from yesterdays’ tempo run.

Thursday: On one of the coldest days of the year (-25C with wind chill), I ventured out with my buddy Rob for 7 sets of hills. When we actually got to the hills it wasn’t too bad but I’m sure both of us were wondering why we decided to do this today. I did all 7 hills under a 5 minute K which was my goal.

Friday: This was supposed to be another day of rest but I decided to do a little bit of weight training on my stability ball as well as some abdominal work. I finished with about 30 minutes on the exercise bike.

Saturday: Saturday’s are one of my most favorite running days as I get to run in the place I’m most comfortable in (trails). I did 8K which seemed to feel more like 12K but the conditions were great.

Sunday: As I write this I just finished running 24K with an average pace of 5:30. This was a little faster than a usual long slow distance day but I was feeling good so I pushed it a little bit.

Eating overview: I’ve given myself a low score this week because I went out to eat twice. Even though I love the socialization part, I realize that it’s hard to make great choices when you go out to eat. I’ve been trying to be so focused on my training and this includes eating healthy at least 80% of the time. Thankfully my weight went down a little but psychologically I know I could have had a better eating week. When you realize that your goal can and will be affected by your eating choices you tend to want to focus harder on making sure that all aspects of your training are being fulfilled. Sadly, when you decide to go to a restaurant to eat, this control is taken away from you. In my case it sets up feeling of guilt but I’ve learned to do my best to not let it snowball into something bigger. As I tell my clients, you need to look forward not backwards so this is what I will do as well.