This was an interesting week.  It went by fast and I had a few random meetings and stuff along the way. It was a pretty solid week of running with my highest mileage since the marathon, both in weekly mileage and long run. I also started core and push ups. I forgot to write in last week’s review, but I did my initial exhaustion test and pumped out 20.  That seems pretty weak compared to some of the women’s team who did over 30.

Monday was a needed rest day after hitting 14 miles total over the weekend! I also restarted the 100 Push up Challenge getting out the required 36 and doing 11 for the max out section for a total for 47 pushups.  I also started The Core Performance book today. Some time I’ll talk more about it, but today was a “Movement Prep” day.

Tuesday I found I was a little sore from the Movement Prep activities, but still went out for an easy 5 mile run along the Greenway in 38:55.  It was a chilly 26 with wind blowing from the West.  Nothing too exciting except for a view squirrels that ran with me for a little bit on their fence highways.  Today’s core workout was movement prep and physioball. I should say this is the first of a 3 week core foundation period.

It snowed Tuesday night and there was a layer of snow on Wednesday morning.  This was heavier than a dusting but melted mostly off the roads and sidewalks.  I ran 3.5 miles around Powderhorn and ran in the soft snow.  It was a nice change of pace. The temps were a little above freezing so it was also a little slushy in some places.  Today’s push up workout included the required 38 and 13 on the max out.  Regeneration was the core workout for today, my legs were still a little sore from the movement prep sessions the last two days.

I took Thursday off from running but still did my Prehab 1, 2, & 3 workouts for the core strength.

On Friday I ran a brisk 3.25 mile run on my Metrodome loop. I ran in shorts because the temperature I saw said 39.  When I got home the temp was at 31.  My legs did get a little cold out there, but it was fine.  I did my 44 required push ups and barely squeeked out the 13 in the max out section.  I skipped the core workout because it is “Strength” and requires a gym and I didn’t feel like going!

Saturday was the first Polar Bear run for me of the year.  It was an excellent run, I got to catch up with some guys I hadn’t seen in awhile plus meet some new ones.  We ended up running 10.66 miles along the Mississippi River.  On the way out there was a fairly strong headwind that made the 30 degrees feel a lot colder but on the way back I took of my ear muff and gloves. There was a dusting of snow on the ground but it went away.

Having church on Friday nights frees up Sunday morning to go on the group run. We met at Jensen Lake in the Lebanon Hills Regional Park we skipped out on some of the major hills (at least that I remember from last time) and had a really nice run making two big loops. For most of the run I had no idea where we were! It was 27 degrees with a dusting of snow on the ground and it snowed off and on during the run.  We ran about 10 miles in just over 80 minutes, all on trails.  The trails alternated between single track hiking and wider horse trails.  A good way to finish off the week.

Mileage Totals:

Running – 32.4

Biking – 14