Last week was tough after the bulgarian split squats. Wednesday and Thursday both had terrible runs and even though Friday was a rest day, I wasn't sure how the rest of the weekend was going to pan out.

Saturday:

The plan was to run 6 miles at planned marathon pace. Based on my marathon last year and a 10K from June, I think a reasonable goal will be 9:40 pace. Last week my pace run was easy, but I did it on the treadmill because it was storming. I wasn't sure how I'd fare keeping pace in hilly Pittsburgh and to add to that I wanted to tackle the same route from Wednesday's infamous 6-miler. I headed out and immediately knew my biggest problem would be reigning it in or burning out. I had splits at 8:55 and 9:00 and ended up with an overall pace of 9:13. In many ways, this was a good thing. For one, it was nice to have a bit of a confidence boost after such a lousy week. However, after reading Advanced Marathoning, I know that you shouldn't have two hard days in a row. Did I push too hard and sabotage my long run?

Sunday:

I wake up and it looks terribly hot and hazy. I get a very late start and I'm immediately worried about the heat. I'm also worried because I'm not running my usual route since the park is closed off for the Pittsburgh Grand Prix. I've only run my modified course once and it was over a year ago... even with mapping it, there was a moderate chance of getting lost.  I try to keep my long runs in the recommended 60-90 seconds slower than planned marathon pace, which would leave my target range between 10:40 and 11:10 pace. My problem is I have a very hard time running that slowly. I tell myself that if I come in under 11 that's fine, but I really want to come in around 10:30. I run my 11 miles without getting lost and even in the heat on unshaded trails, an out-and-back course (which I hate) and a 700 meter increase in elevation at mile 8.75, I finished with exactly 10:30 pace. Awesome. Best part was I felt great yesterday. I remember last year after my long runs being out of commission for the day, but yesterday I could have done anything I would have wanted or needed to do (I opted to read )

Monday:

So I felt good yesterday, but what about today? Monday is my cross training day and swimming is my new favorite thing in the world. I've been swimming for about 45 minutes and I wanted to up it this week. So today I swam 2000 meters in under an hour, including some slow warm up and cool down laps and some technique drills.

I'm so psyched that this weekend I was able to run 17 good miles and feel good enough today to swim 2000 meters. I'm pumped about my fitness and can't wait to continue a good thing. I love making progress and it's so great to see progress in two activities I love.