Quarter Progress

This week marks the start of week 4 of my mini-marathon training, thus the end of the first quarter of training.  I have been doing an array of exercises on top of simply running.  When I go to the gym tonight, my goal is to run for 2 straight miles; in my planner it says "Easy Run - 2 miles" along with strength training.  For strength, I have been doing the exercises from my high school advanced physical conditioning class, alternating between upper body and legs days.  The rowing machine has also become a regular part of my time at the gym. 

In the last few weeks, the "90/90" has worked really well for getting me back into running.  I walk the first 2 minutes and a speed level of 4 on a PRECOR treadmill (man, treadmills suck, but so does the current low temperatures...), then alternate running for 90 seconds followed by walking for 90 seconds.  For running, I choose a speed in the range of 6-7.2 depending on how my legs are feeling during that interval.  I always walk at a 4.0 speed so that I don't slow my heart rate too much.  I'm proud to say that even though I walk half of the time with this set up, I'm only 5 minutes over the time that it took me to run 3 miles 5 years ago. Woo!

This week's plan (keep in mind that I'm easing back into this):
Tuesday: "Easy Run" 2 miles + lower body strength training
Wednesday: 30 min cross training--hopefully a spin class is available
Thursday: 3 miles + upper body strength training
Friday: "Easy Run" 4 miles
Sunday: Run/Walk 3 miles

Apparently there is another terrible winter storm expected this week.  If I cannot make it to the gym, I plan to do P90X, INSANITY, or something I find on Pinterest.  Only 12 weeks remaining before the mini; only 6 weeks until Spring Break!