PHWEW.

After a long week at work, I am pooped. Yesterday after work, I went to the gym before the 4th of July festivities. Zumba got cancelled because of the holiday, so I switched my Thursday run to Wednesday. Instead of doing two miles I ended up doing 2.5. I did intervals every .25 mile and finished the run in 25:28. Then I showered and went to the beach, drank a few beers, and ate some sweet potato fries. Yum.

Today I went to Zumba and it was a pretty great class. I really liked the instructor. You could tell she was an actual dancer. 50 minutes of zumba, 515 calories torched. I came home and scrounged around the kitchen for food that won't be there until tomorrow (payday!) so I just ate some watermelon for dinner. Lame. Good thing I'm (somehow?!) not even hungry. But I am going to make a paleo crockpot pork rump roast and rice tomorrow and I am so excited about it that it's sad. The rice is not rice at all.... but cauliflower! Oh man, my stomach just grumbled. Time for bed. Number one on my list of things to do tomorrow is grocery shop. Number two? Lift. Duh.

WWS

Well, last week was another down week for running. I seem to alternate. One week I get pretty much all my runs done, the next I only do two, and then repeat. My whole 7MM challenge has been a bust so far, I'd say. I've only done it like.. twice. Uggggggggggh. So here was my pathetic last week:

• Monday: 3.07 miles in 30:02 (9:46 pace)
• Saturday: Kare to Excel 8K race 5.02 miles in 50:27 (10:02 pace)

....aaaand that's about about it. Like I said, it was a down week. I've got to get out of this funk I'm in.

Here's the schedule for this week. We'll see how much I follow it.

• Monday: 2.5 miles
• Wednesday: 7MM
• Friday: 3 miles
• Saturday: 6 miles

I've started formulating a training plan for the San Antonio Rock N Roll half, training will start at the beginning of September, so I've still got quite a bit of time before I have to start worrying about that.

I get to go home in a week and a half. I can't wait.

WWS

Here is my weekly workout schedule for this week.

• Monday - 3 miles
• Tuesday - 2.5 miles
• Wednesday - 7MM
• Saturday - Kare to Excel 8K

We'll see how this turns out... I woke up drenched in sweat this morning and I feel really run down. Hopefully I can muster the energy to get my runs done. I better not be getting sick.

My mom is coming into town to visit this weekend and she's going to come see my race! I'm excited. Josh and I have a set a goal of 50 minutes. I'm not sure I can sustain a 10:00 min/mile pace for five miles, but I'm going to do my damndest. It better not be a windy repeat of the 10K...

I managed to run again tonight. I'm going to try to get a run in every day this week, except maybe Friday. I'm diving at work that day and it's a workout in itself. Tentatively, I have this planned:

• Tuesday - three miles with the man, followed by dinner
• Wednesday - my first 7MM one mile run
• Thursday - 2.5 miles
• Saturday - 3.5 miles

So all fairly short runs, but still getting a semi-decent amount of weekly miles in.

I did two 1.22 mile loops around the neighborhood tonight. It was really windy and spooky outside, so I brought a canine unit for backup. Thanks to him, my pace for the first loop was kickass. It took me 10:57, setting me at an 8:58 min/mile pace! Holy cow, that is terrific for me! The second loop I slowed down for and made it in 13:17 (10:53 min/mile pace), setting me an overall workout time of about 25 minutes and an average pace of 9:58.

I'm glad I went. I napped on the couch when I got home, which is something I seem to do almost every day lately. When I woke up I ate leftover fried fish and it was at that point that I decided I should go get moving for a bit.

When I got home, both my pup and I got bathed and now we are in bed. Glorious.

back in the game.

I ran again this evening after work and I feel a million times better about where I'm at. I set out to do a two mile run through the neighborhood that I had mapped out beforehand. Roommate decided to come last minute. Since it was only a two mile run, I decided to pump up the pace a bit. It was tough, but I wouldn't say it was any tougher than the slower run I had done on Friday.

During the run, I completely forgot what my planned route was so I just winged it, hoping that I would come in around two miles. I just set a goal of 23 minutes, just to be on the safe side. Maintaing the pace was hard, but I kept telling myself that it was only two miles. That's it. And I was able to push through and kick my own ass. More proof than running is at least (if not more) as mental as it is physical.

After finishing up and cooling down, I came in to map out the route I had taken. Turned out to be 2.34 miles and I ran it in 22:23. That set me at a 9:34 min/mile average pace. Not too shabby at all! I'm proud of the run, especially because I was super exhausted after work but I still pushed myself out the door with no hesitation.

This week begins my journey towards a seven minute mile, which will be referred to as 7MM from here on out (not to be confused with 7 millimeters). This will be me attempting to consistently improve my one mile time little by little. My goal is to reach seven minutes or less by the end of the year. I feel like that's plenty of time to achieve it. Wednesday is my very first mile, so I'll check back in with a starting point later this week!

After catching up on The Walking Dead tonight and hanging out with the man, I am ready for bed. Goodnight, internet.

brief, tired.

Saturday's eight miles... oh boy. It was tough. I was at a slower pace than I've been in a while but I don't give a shit because I still ran eight miles. It took me an hour and a half. Over an 11:00 min/mile pace. Whatevz.

Running my first official 10K this weekend! It'll be nice to have an easier long run day (although the race is on the beach, which may prove more difficult than I'm anticipating). I'm going to enjoy the mileage cut back because the following week is 9.5 miles. HOLY. SHIT. How am I going to do it? My brain is my worst enemy on these runs. Boredom is brutal. Must find entertainment. But even though it seems unfathomable, I know I'll manage, even if I want to die and sleep in a lawn before finishing.

Early to bed tonight and for the rest of the week. I've got some serious sleep to catch up on.