I can’t believe that my third week of training with Laura is now complete. The miles are flying by and I am LOVING every single workout she throws in my direction.
This week definitely involved more challenging workouts. I had a tempo run, treadmill hill workout and a last-minute progression run on the treadmill added to the schedule too.
I’ve got lots of details about my workouts today so let’s jump right in to my recap!
Monday – 5 Miles/Pure Barre
The weather was sunny and fairly cool (68 degrees, no humidity) perfect for an easy 5 miles.
I quickly came home to combine two 5 minute Pure Barre workouts (thighs & seat) before getting ready to take my son to the drop off for this week’s teen tour.
Tuesday – 7 Miles (Tempo Run)
The plan for today was a tempo run based on effort rather than pace. The heat and humidity slow me down so Laura said that focusing on my effort is the way to go.
2 mile warm up
3 miles at tempo effort (10K – half marathon effort)
2 miles easy
I felt the higher humidity today but was still able to dial in to a half marathon effort. Not really sure if I felt a 10k effort in there but I know I was working hard for those 3 miles. A lot of it was mental – I had to keep reminding myself to keep up the effort rather than get lost in just running.
Wednesday – 7 Miles
It was extremely humid this morning, especially compared to how it has felt recently so I was glad to see an easy run on the schedule. I considered going up to 8 miles (the range said 7-8 miles for today) but I was totally done sweating by the 7 mile mark!
Thursday – 6 Miles (treadmill hill workout!)
I was SO EXCITED to see a treadmill hill workout on the plan for today! I had told Laura when she was putting together my training plan for this month that I wanted to be pushed to run inclines on the treadmill since it’s something I never do on my own.
Wow, was this a workout. She had me run at a moderate paced speed which meant I was between 7.0 – 7.5 after the warm up. This was HARD but manageable and I felt amazingly exhausted when I finished.
I skipped Pure Barre today – I was dead from this treadmill hill workout!
Friday – 4 Miles/Pure Barre
It was pretty humid but that was fine for me for an easy run. Actually, the 4 miles ticked by really fast. Usually, the shorter, easy runs tend to feel so long but not today.
Since I skipped Pure Barre yesterday, I did a quick 10 minute back & stretching Pure Barre workout.
Saturday – 12 Miles 10 Mile Progression Run (treadmill)
I saw rain in the forecast so I told Laura I was probably going to be running on the treadmill. Once I told her that, she asked me if I would like to change up the original long run plan of 12 easy miles to a treadmill workout instead.
Um, sure!
She cut the planned distance to 10 miles and increased the effort.
I asked Laura if she felt that shorter distances with more effort were better than for me now than longer distances at slower efforts and here is what she said:
Definitely! This workout is probably an even a better workout for you because you could run 12 in your sleep practically! A hard 10 miles provides a new stimulus over a long slow distance to which your body is adapted.
OMG is all I can from this long run on the treadmill workout. Don’t let the easy miles fool you. Once I got to the last 3 miles, life was challenging. I made it half way through the 3 miles before needing to drop my pace from 7.5 – 7.7 range to 7.3 to catch my breath.
Blame it on those ranging inclines. It’s all the inclines fault. However, I think I love a good treadmill hill and will do this workout again!
I spoke to Laura after this workout. She told me to take the easy effort miles a slower next time to save energy for the last 3 miles. While I followed my easy run on the treadmill workout for the warm up, I then ranged at times from 6.6 (during inclines) and then 6.8 – 7.0 on the flatter portions of the easy miles.
Sunday – Pure Barre
Not sure yet which Pure Barre workout I will do. I see that Pure Barre On Demand added some new workouts which means I need to browse through!
Quick Reminder!
Laura is currently offering my readers 15% off a month of training, If you are interested, definitely reach out to her and tell her I sent you! I will also receive 15% off if you sign up but that’s not why I am referring you. I LOVE training with Laura. Last year she helped me achieve my current half marathon PR. She is really good at what she does. And she’s my good friend now too. 🙂
[bctt tweet=”summer training plan week #3! #run #running #treadmill #workouts @thisrunrecipes #purebarre” username=”cookiechrunicle”]
Would you rather run long and easy or cut the distance and put in more effort?
How do you feel about running inclines on the treadmill? Do you do it often?
The Cookie ChRUNicles 
Sounds like you had a great week of workouts! When I’m exercising, my preference is to go long and easy. It just works better for my body!
I recently tried what was supposed to be an “easy” treadmill run, chock full of inclines and crazy speed changes, and I was DYING. Like in a kind of good way but also like I actually couldn’t do it, so I had to keep decreasing the inclines. You’re definitely right, those inclines will get ya. But sounds like you did awesome!
definitely check out Laura’s incline workouts – they are challenging in such a good way without letting me fall off the treadmill or need to stop!
incline running is so hard! I would rather go shorter and harder than longer.
definitely so hard – but so good at the same time!
You are too kind to me! I am so glad that you are enjoying the training – I am having a lot of fun making workouts for you! I like both long and easy and hard and shorter long runs, so I try to keep a good mix of them in training so I don’t get bored of either.