I’m a few days late posting my week 3 training update, but it’s for good reason. We took a family vacation to Chicago to explore and catch a Cubs game. I might post about that later this week. It was super fun and super exhausting.

So, for week 3 I did not do any strength training, but that wasn’t exactly a conscious decision. I had been stepping back from it when I was having shoulder issues (which are almost completely healed now) and it’s hard to get back in the habit. I did all my planned runs, however, so I’m proud of that. Monday I ran 4 regular miles. Wednesday I ran 2.58 miles of hill repeats. There are two streets in my neighborhood that are on decent inclines, so I just ran up those streets, walked down, and kept repeating until I had reached my planned 2.5 miles (I went a bit over because I was running up the hill when I hit my mark).

Then Saturday I ran my long run of 8 miles. It was a beautiful day, and at 7 am it was perfect weather. Sixty degrees with a slight breeze. I ran the same paved trail as the week before, and that was really nice. I don’t know how far this trail goes, so I’m kind of excited to see a little bit more of it each time I add more to my long run.

I am still absolutely loving having the freedom to head out my front door and run down these trails. For this 8 mile run I was able to remember to take it slow and steady. There was a point when my left knee started giving me mild pain, but I just slowed up a bit more and it went away. One of the things I’ve learned through regular long distance running is that it’s not only OKAY to go slow, it’s advisable. Pay attention to your body and it will let you know when you are pushing too hard. My first year of running I had lots of minor injuries to my knees and hips and ended up in physical therapy for it. It was all because I was trying to run too fast on all my training runs. So now I slow down, enjoy the scenery at a slower pace. Or as Martinus Evans calls it, “sexy pace”.

Week 4 is halfway over already due to our trip, but we did so much walking in Chicago I don’t think the hiccup in training is going to make any difference. I’m going to just keep moving forward. I’ll let y’all know how it goes!