And we're off! Fall training is officially under way!

The weather has been beautiful here with temps only in the 80s (and sometimes low 90s), which makes for slightly easier running. It's still humid, but nothing like it's been for the past few months. I'm anxiously awaiting fall! 

My coach has me doing just one speedwork session per week instead of two because she wants to build my overall mileage and keep me injury-free. I rotate between track workouts, tempo runs, and hill repeats for these sessions. This week was a tempo run with target splits at 8:15, 8:00, 7:45, and 7:30. I was a little off on those, but still had negative splits and my overall pace was pretty much right on target, and similar to my tempo run-race paces earlier this summer (slightly faster, actually), but at a little longer distance. 

I also managed to get off the road and onto the trail for one of my runs, which was a nice change of scenery. I'd like to keep this up every week and run at least once once on the trail or the beach. 

This week was also an excellent week for crosstraining and core work. The two things I still feel like I'm missing are one serious strength workout and yoga or flow. I was hoping the paddleboarding core sessions could replace yoga/flow for now, but because I'm also on a board and working my legs for half the workout, I'm not getting that total body stretch-out that I really need. So I've got to find a way to fit that in. My calves and achilles were so tight this week and it was miserable. As for strength, I think I may need to hit up someplace like MADabolic once a week to get that strength work in. 

But otherwise, I'm feeling good about my start to fall training, and I'm looking forward to some even cooler weather in the coming weeks. 

Workout summary:

• Monday: Paddleboarding (paddle + core workout on the board)
• Tuesday:  Tempo run - 4 miles (7:42 pace)
• Wednesday: Easy run - 3.07 (9:12 pace) + 15 minutes yoga/sun salutations to stretch out
• Thursday: Paddleboarding (paddle + core workout on the board)
• Friday: OFF
• Saturday:
  • Trail run (easy) - 4.26 miles (9:26 pace) 
  • Bike ride (easy) - 3 miles
• Sunday:
  • Long run (easy) - 6.07 miles (9:06 pace)
  • Bike ride (easy) - 3.5 miles

Total miles:  Run - 17.40 miles, Bike - 6.5  / Total runs: 4 / Total core/strength workouts: 3 / Total crosstraining: 4