I haven’t done my long run yet, but so far it’s been a good week.

I tried something new this week and doubled-up on my boot camps and my runs. I was lucky enough to have time in the evening to do this, as with the darkness at 6:30am these days, getting up in time to do a double workout is just asking too much. This does two things: creates more flexibility in my schedule and frees up time to do other activities. My coach wants me to prioritize the boot camps, and with good reason, but I don’t want to give up swimming and biking and yoga. I’m hoping that by doubling up, I’ll get 3 cross-training sessions in and potentially have a second rest day each week, if I need it.

Monday: This was the day after the Island 10k so I did a whole lot of nothing.

Tuesday: I had my evening free, so I did a 6k pick-up run, followed by a 30-minute bootcamp. I struggled this whole run, but by the end of it I felt a lot better than I had at the beginning.

My splits were:

6:00
5:37
5:14
5:22
4:59
4:57

Wednesday: I went to the Regent Park Aquatic Centre (it’s FREE!) to do laps. I have never, ever, ever been in a pool that was that busy. It was disorienting, but I eventually got into a groove following the lap/rest and wait/lap routine everyone in my lane had established. I’m in a bit of a weird zone in that in the “fast” lane I get my ass kicked and feel like a nuisance, but in the “medium” lane, I’m the jerk who either passes you or switches to breaststroke mid-lane, making you feel slow either way. I need to up my endurance to swim with the big kids full-time.

Thursday: We had dinner plans at 7:30, so I hit the gym in between work and dinner. I wanted to do my speedwork (4x800s) and a 30-minute bootcamp, but only a 15-minute one happened, otherwise I would have been late. I picked the hardest ab-focused one available and almost died.

I did my 800s on a treadmill (there was no track in a convenient location between work and dinner), but played with the speed settings to make each split progressively harder.

My splits were:

4:06
4:03
4:02
4:02

Friday: Rest. After 3 quality days of working out, I was wiped. And I had two epic runs planned for the weekend and didn’t want to compromise them.

Saturday: Ran 10.08k in 1:05:38 with my friend Kendal. It was a good solid run, with some rain. Kendal’s faster than me, but we settled into a pace that wasn’t ass-kicking and left me with enough that I’m confident I can tackle my long run tomorrow without any trouble.

Okay, three hour long run Sunday morning. Let’s do this.