Week 4 Recap and Week 5 Plan

I'm not even going to do a real week 4 recap because (a) I don't have access to my Excel file with my plan (and won't for about 2 weeks - but I'll probably make a new make-shift one for now) and (b) there were extenuating circumstances throughout most of last week that caused me to not run at all Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I had a decent run on Monday which I wrote a bit about right after the run but never got around to posting it.  Maybe I will add to it after tomorrow's normal run and then post about both.  Thursday and Sunday I did races, which went as expected and Saturday I did the 10.5 mile long run.  So all the runs I did were good, but I also took 3 days off which was more than I would've liked and felt very exhausted all week.  I finished the week with 29 miles, so for 4 days I'd say that's decent.  If I would've gotten in the extra 1-2 days of running I definitely would've hit 35-40.  So it really was a true step back week and now I need to step it up.

Here's the plan I came up with for this week.  Once again, I don't even know what my original plan had, but I think it might even be better if I just make my plans week by week anyways.  I do already have my long run mileage figured out for each weekend leading up to the marathon, but the other days maybe I'll just go by how I feel each week as it comes.

If I do all these runs, that would put me at 45-50 miles which would be pretty high for what I have been doing the last couple weeks.  I put the long run on Thursday because as of now I am planning to visit Kristin and Tim in Cincinnati this weekend.  I am sure we would go out on Friday night and not be in long-run condition Saturday morning and I also don't want to do a long run there by myself (on hills) or risk not doing it at all.  I think I can convince Kristin to at least do a normal run with me ;)  So, goal is to do the long run Thursday evening.  I think I'll go to the Elk Grove Forest Preserve where there is an 8.3 mile loop and just go for it twice.  My plan for tomorrow actually is to go there and do 1 loop.  I just hope it isn't TOO hot in the evening.  I do imagine I'll ending making Friday a rest day so I can sleep in before driving to Cincy and being active all weekend, but maybe I'll have more energy this week and really want to get in another run.

Mac was talking about meeting up to do the Yasso 800s on a track this week and I said Tuesday would be the perfect night for me to do them.  Not sure yet if he'll be able to, otherwise I will plan to go and try to do them myself.  I've never done the Yasso 800s before and am a little nervous for them, but especially after today's 5K race I know that some speed training would really help me right now.  In case you were wondering what the Yasso 800s even are, I will post about them after I actually do the workout but in the meantime you can Google if you are super curious.

And now since this has been all boring running talk, I did at least do a few fun things besides run this weekend.  My favorite was after Saturday morning's long run, I met Steph and Catherine for brunch at Honey n' Jam in Lincoln Park.  I hadn't been there before but I would definitely recommend it.  I love all breakfast food though so I'd really recommend going for brunch anywhere, anytime.  Catherine and I had both done long runs that morning so after brunch we decided to go for a little walk to stretch out and talk.  Then I walked home...so much walking...but I stopped and treated myself to ice cream on the way.

So I leave you with a nice picture of my omelet (with bacon, cheese, and onion), potatoes, and toast.  What a great post-long run meal.

Do you like to plan out your days/weeks way ahead of time or just do what you feel?