New Running Plan: Less is More or More is More?

Hi friends! Today (Tuesday) is my last day before I start working again! I’m going to be working at the vet I’ve worked at in the past.

I started my morning with a delicious Cara Cara orange and a Flapjacked muffin.

The first thing on the agenda for the day was a walk with Chloe! It was nice and sunny out!

Next, it was time for a track workout!

I feel like this track is at the edge of the world. It’s got great views of the bay.

My workout was 400m repeats. I’m officially in 5k speed training mode! I spent a ton of time warming up, because I was pretty sore from squats on Monday. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a great workout. The past week or so, I’ve been dealing with a little bit of tendonitis in my Achilles, and on my first repeat it started bothering me. I got through 5 repeats and called it there. I think a combination of a 5k on Sunday and a lot of double unders in 17.5 on Friday put a lot of work into my calves, tightening my Achilles. It came on kind of suddenly during my track workout, so I’m hoping it goes away as quickly as it came!

I want to talk a little bit about 5k speed training. For the last 5k, I was trying to get in 2 runs a week, but sometimes it was only 1. Now that I’m not teaching so much spin and the Crossfit Open is over, I want to put some work into speed. My goal race is April 23. Last week, I was thinking about my training. I was ready to step up my running a lot, and go for 3 days a week including a speed day. However, my formerly broken foot was feeling a little achy after a few intense workout days in a row, and I realized I would have to be smart about how I train. This little tendonitis flare up is another example. So going forward, this is the plan. 1 day of a normal 3 mile run, 1 day of a speedier 3 mile run, and 1 day of EITHER a track workout OR directed cross training, depending on what was happening that week. If Crossfit has a lot of jumping, it can be hard on my foot, so I would skip the track workout. If I’m on my feet all day at the vet and my foot is feeling it, I would skip the track workout. For now, my directed cross training will be 8 rounds of HIIT on the spin bike. 1 min on, 1:15 off. But for this to actually be effective, I have to really crush the intervals. Because of my tendonitis, I’ve already decided to scrap my planned run on Thursday!

After my workout, I drove to the mall for lunch at a bakery with my parents. I got a small fruit salad with chicken and a sesame ginger dressing.

After lunch, we walked over to See’s to pick up some Mint Scotchmallows before they get phased out. For those not in places with See’s, first of all, I’m sorry. Second, a Scotchmallow is caramel and marshmallow, covered in dark chocolate. For the mint ones, the marshmallow is mint.

Of course, I wasn’t going to turn down a free sample! I had a free Chocolate Buttercream, and one of the mint Scotchmallows.

Later in the afternoon, I had a Lemon Luna bar for a snack. It’s been FOREVER since I’ve had a Lemon one! These used to be my jam a few years ago, and the bright lemon flavor tastes like spring!

For evening Crossfit, we worked on 5×3 cleans at a heavy weight. I used 115#, and it felt far heavier than it should have. Yeah, cleans need some work. The WOD was dips, sit ups, and running, but I subbed rowing for the running.

For dinner, we made hearty chicken stew with butternut squash and quinoa. Served with Brazilian cheese bread.

For dessert, again I had salted caramel Halo Top with marble bread.

I’m still loving my rice cakes. Evening snack was the same rice cake with cream cheese.

Now I’m off! Big day tomorrow!