Running is a means and never merely an end

45 minutes easy (5.66 miles at 8:08 average) + 8x15sec strides. I ran Buchanan loop, then finished the rest of the time with an out-and-back on River Road. Walked 4 miles with my family after brunch later.

In other news...3 days till LP!!! Also in other news, by the looks of our next schedule set for training these next 2 weeks, I'd say stuff just got real. I'm psyched to get mileage back up, and for fartleks on Wednesdays! 

35 minute progressive tempo, from 7:40 --> 7:03. I started out more like 7:30, though, and thus ended up with a 7:16 average for 4.82 miles. I feel like I worked hard (but not too hard) and relatively enjoyed it though. Then, full body circuit followed by a mile cool down. Hiking/swimming with my little sister later! 2 days till LP

AM- 6 miles easy all around Western. 8:05 avg.

PM- 5 miles easy at rec and back down Speedwell Rd/Tilley Creek. 7:56 avg. 2nd run was only supposed to be 4 miles, but I am gonna be super crunched for time tomorrow morning and I'd have to wake up at like 5:30am to get my full warm-ups and cool downs in for the workout before I drive 6 hours to Myrtle Beach (LP tomorrow!!!). So I figured I'd start at 6am instead and just do a mile warm up and a mile cool down tomorrow instead of 3 warm up and 2 cool down. There's just no way I could wake up at 5:30 and do a workout and then drive 6 hours without falling asleep. Adding a mile today just made me feel a tad better about that because I hate missing out on mileage.

Fartlek run before I left for LP! 2 mile warm up into a fartlek of 5min, 4min, 3min, 2 min, 1 min "comfortably hard" with a 1 minute jog between each. Cooled down back to my house. 

6 miles easy - first run in Myrtle Beach. Kind of sucked, to be honest. It's hard to breathe this humid air and there isn't really anywhere nice to run that I've seen (I hate running on the beach) so I just out-and-backed 3 miles down the sidewalk. In any event, LP is AWESOME so far.

9 mile progressive tempo. Worked my way down from a 7:39 first mile to a 7:23 last mile. Again, felt pretty sucky from the combo of it being hard to breathe and just not having a good place to run other than sidewalks. Averaged 7:31.

6 miles easy. Not really enjoying running this week. Luckily, I think part of that is because I am enjoying my daily life so much that running almost feels like it's just something in the way. LP is soooo fun. 

I don't have wifi at our hotel, though, so I may be pretty inconsistent about updating my blog on time for the next 7 and a half weeks. I'm gonna have to do mass updates when I get to this coffee shop with free wifi that I'm at right now.