Week 8 of 24: Training for the Run Amok 50 miler CUTBACK WEEK!!!!

YES!  Made it to another cut back week and it honestly couldn't have come soon enough.  We have high temps on the docket and of course 100% humidity at 5 am.  Bleh.  Hello summer!  I did the most miles I have ever done in a week last week with a trail run thrown in for good measure.  I am still looking at tweaking my plan a bit because I honestly don't need to do the high mileage it suggests to get to my goal.  I also need to get my tired hiney back in the gym to do some sort of lifting because the lifting and the cross fit is what is or was keeping me injury free.

our shop toad Frogger

Monday:  Rest day. I had two back to back rest days and I needed them!  I will admit, I kind of liked getting my long run done during the week and my second long run out of the way so I could have one weekend day for resting and then another to start off the week.  Might have to try that again this week!

This is  "I won't look at the camera and you can't make me" face

Tuesday:  5 easy peasy miles.  I was pretty sore from running 5 days in a row and I needed to take it super easy and we did.  My watch was dead when I woke up so I had to manually time our 4:1 and I only screwed up a few times by not hitting start.  I also learned taco salad is not a great thing to eat before any type of run.  Lesson learned.

Wednesday:  Well, the heat is finally on us.  We only had 3 miles on the plan so we decided to sleep in since it would still be hot no matter what time we went out.  I left miss Stella at the house since most of the road puddles have dried up.  It was HOT and just doing 3 miles was TOUGH.  I dread the rest of the runs this week because it is only suppose to get worse.

Thursday:  Feels like 87 and 74% humidity = no go for Stella.  There was a south wind, but I don't think it would have been enough to cool her down.  I took water for me and drank almost all of it.  The walk run intervals kept us from totally overheating and we were SUPER glad when we were done.   We did take a couple of breaks to take pictures and one for me to go visit the corn field for an emergency pit stop, but other than that, we got it done minus the dogs.

Friday:  Normally this would be a rest day, but I needed to shift everything around to accommodate next week's crazy schedule.  We decided since we just had 10 on the schedule that we would get it done at 5 am and then get a bike ride on the weekend.  Cutback weeks only have four runs, so I can get away with this and so I shall :) I was up at 4 am to fuel and we hit the road around 5.  Feels like 85 degrees, but the irrigation rigs were out in full force and there was a slight wind, so even with the high humidity we were staying reasonably cool.  Didn't bring the dogs and I am glad we didn't.  As soon as the sun came up it became an oven.

Saturday:  Rest day.  We had a no agenda day and it was amazing.  Slept till the dogs made me get up, spent all morning outside grooming them and doing toe nails on both them and my child, cleaned ears including my child's ears (LOL), and then headed to Manhattan to tool around and have some family fun.  We hit up Rock a Belly deli for some amazing steamed sandwiches and summer beer.  They make theirs with vodka, mic ultra, and lemonade.  Plus if you want, they add strawberry puree and that just makes it super fresh and super deadly.  You really do not taste ANY alcohol. On a hot day, i could sit and drink those all day (and probably pass out).  Andrew didn't like his grilled cheese so he ate my sandwich instead, which makes me super happy because it was roast beef on sourdough with lettuce and tomato plus Swiss cheese.  He usually won't eat "salad" on his sandwiches.    We also had pretzels and hot mustard and chili con queso and chips, so I was super full from the chips anyway and didn't need my entire sandwich.  A MA ZING!!!!  Post lunch we headed over to Varsity doughnut, another local favorite to have doughnuts and play games.

We had a mean game of apples to apples JR going on where there were many laughs had.  They also had the ping pong table out so Andrew and Tony attempted a game of ping pong.  While in Aggieville (Manhattan's bar/shopping district) we also hit up the local bookstore that carries used and new books. I scored three used books that I had been wanting to read for 5 bucks a piece.  You can't beat that!  

Sunday:  Active rest.  The plan called for active rest instead of a 5th run and Robin and I wanted to hit our bikes for the first time of the season.  Yes, we are a slightly behind in our bike riding adventures.  I didn't get any pictures during since we were gabbing away, but post riding the whole family came out and got our ride on plus we got some coffee.  

I really, really enjoy cut back weeks and am really really glad I went with this plan.  I am going to tweak it a little going forward but mostly leave the week day runs the same.  Have a great weekend and enjoy your week!