Week 6 (days 36-42): Cutback weeks feel so nice

This blog post is post dated a bit - I've been having some mojo issues lately.  I'm sure that they'll pass once school starts again and I have some more structure to my life.  Week 6 on my training plan was a scheduled cutback week.  I'd planned on running 36 miles, but that didn't happen as I took the cutback week a bit to the extreme.

Day 36 (August 3): Rest day.  I was a complete and total bum and watched a whole lot of netflix.  I slept a lot because recovering from the 15 miler was tough.  I'd probably have been better off if I'd done more active recovery: yoga, walking, etc.

Day 37 (August 4): 6 miles on the treadmill.  I did a sort of interval routine and pushed the pace a little.

Day 38 (August 5):  I decided to be social and do the Nike group training run.  I joined the 5 mile route and planned on running back from central park where the run is held.  The 5 mile route turned out to be 5.3 miles, it was still hot at 7pm, and I was *tired* after the run so I took the subway home instead of running back over the Queensboro bridge after dark.  I think that pushing the pace two days in a row isn't something my body can handle.  There are also hills in central park unlike on the completely flat waterfront routes that I normally take.

At the Nike group run.

Day 39 (August 6): I woke up with lots of ankle pain, or maybe more accurately soreness.  I think that two days in a row of pushing the pace did me in.  I got out there and did one loop of the local park but then I was done.  I try not to feel guilty about slacking off as long as I give it a good faith effort.  This was definitely a "listen to your body" type of day.

Day 40 (August 7): Cross training!  My cross training was walking from Chinese class in midtown west to a yummy Chinese restaurant in midtown east.  :-)  Not too much exertion but I intentionally walked extra when I certainly could have taken the subway.

Day 41 (August 8): I ran 6.1 miles on my normal waterfront out and back route.  It went well, I started out slowly but progressively picked up the pace throughout the run.

Day 42 (August 9):  Long run!  The benefit of long runs during cutback weeks is that they are short ;-)  I ran 10 miles, which meant I ran from my apartment to do two loops of Roosevelt Island and then ran to my favorite bagel place in Astoria.  Yummy!  The subway ridge back took awhile because Sunday train service sucks, but hubby appreciated the yummy bagel from Astoria.

Week 6 Summary:
Miles: 28.9
Pace: 11:47 min/mile
Stayed on Plan: Nope, not really -- missed 7 miles from the plan but pushed the pace a bunch.