Weekly Training Wrap - 3/31 - 4/6

On my original plan, this week was a cutback week. However, I've only had one tough week in my last training block because I lost parts of two weeks to my pulled hamstring. And, I am traveling next week for work. Those things combined made this a hard training week so that I can put off my cutback week to my travel week. Overall it went really well. I am starting to implement two to three "key" workouts per week. This week I did some Mile Repeats and Hill Repeats on the treadmill to dodge poor weather. Neither workout was killer, but I felt both were effective. I also had a nice long road run (hilly with about 2K of vertical as well) in which I have more of a typical long run effort -- not just a MAF/super easy effort. I felt strong through out and good enough to run 10 more miles the following day. With a little less than 2 months to go, I am need to continue pushing some intensity to round out my fitness.

I finally have had some time to break in a couple of my new Altra shoes. At this stage, I think I can honestly say that I love my Olympus (55 miles) and they will be my shoe choice in the "max cushion" category. (Though I still have some Mafate that I need to find a way to rotate in.)  I am somewhat undecided on my Instinct 2.0. I like the shoe on the whole, but I find it kind of a "tweener" shoe. There is too much cushion for everyday use. And I have other cushioned shoes for super long stuff. Right now, I prefer the Instinct 1.5 as an everyday shoe to the 2.0, even though I like the fit of the 2.0 way better. When I retire my Instinct 1.5, I'll have to find another shoe to fill that void. Perhaps the The One2 (Squared)? As soon as the blog mentioned a comparison to the original Kinvara, my interest in this shoe doubled. The original Kinvara are my favorite shoes of all time.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Off	Rest
Tuesday	8	Mile Repeats PT and Body Weight Training
Wednesday	5	Easy
Thursday	8	Hill Repeats PT and Body Weight Training
Friday	5	Easy Yoga
Saturday	20	Long Road Run
Sunday	10	Easy
Total	56	About 4700 feet of vert