Week in Review - 4/3-4/9

Sunday - April 3
Bike 15.5 mi
This was my first time back on the bike in a while.  In the last few weeks before the National Half Marathon I didn't manage to fit it in and only biked once in the entire month of March.  Sunday morning was beautiful so I drove just south of Old Town, parked in one of the lots along the GW Parkway and biked down to Mount Vernon and back.

Unfortunately I had a fair amount of pain on the outside of my left knee, particularly when going uphill.  It didn't really become an issue until I was close to Mount Vernon, so I really had no option for cutting the ride short.

I had to go back to my local bike shop to get all of my cables tightened (they all were installed when I had it tuned up in February), so I asked the guy who helped me to check the fit.  Although I had the same thing done when I picked it up after the tune-up, he said the seat was too high and too far back.  So he adjusted it for me.  I'm hopeful that this will resolve the issues, but I guess I will have to wait and see!

Monday - April 4
Run 4.1 mi
This was an early morning run.  Nothing exciting, but I was happy to find out that my knee pain from biking the day before was not present when I was running.
 
Tuesday - April 5
Run 5.3 mi
I was inspired by the nice weather and decided to run home from work (with a slight detour to see the cherry blossoms).  I don't do a lot of afternoon/evening running and I had forgotten how my legs often seem to have a little extra energy later in the day. 

Wednesday - April 6
Stationary bike 10.1 mi
This was pretty boring.  I wanted to get some more biking in, but I also wanted to work out in the morning and it's too dark right now to actually take my bike out.  Fortunately this didn't seem to bother my left knee, so I'm still hopeful that the pain was a bike-related issue and not a biking form or inherent knee/muscle issue.

Thursday - April 7
Run 5.26 mi
Originally I was going to run on Thursday morning.  Then I decided maybe it was better to take a rest day, go to yoga Thursday night and run Friday morning.  But after a quick look at Friday's forecast (rain) and great weather when I left work, I decided I should run Thursday evening.  My workout plans are all over the place when I go without a schedule!  This is also one of the few times of year when I actually enjoy running in the early evening.  So I figured I might as well take advantage of it before the temperatures and humidity skyrocket.  I threw in two tempo miles and decided that was enough for this week.  I'd been planning on three, but the drop off between miles 1 and 2 convinced me that my legs weren't ready to push the pace for a third.

Friday - April 8
Rest
 
Saturday - April 9
Run 10.0 mi

Some friends invited me to join them for breakfast in Old Town on Saturday morning.  At first I thought about running later in the day, or pushing my long run to Sunday, but then I realized I could just run there and Metro home!  I love it when my running has an extra purpose.  After doing a quick check of the distance, I realized it would be right in the 9-10 mile range, which was exactly what I had planned, so I didn't even have to figure out how to tack on some extra miles.  Win!

I thought I had run all the way to Old Town on the Mt. Vernon trail before, but I guess I haven't since I don't remember ever seeing this mural!

 

Hi George!

  

 

 Final destination

I felt good on the run and then promptly enjoyed a (large) tasty breakfast.  Definitely an excellent way to start a Saturday!