You guys! There’s officially thirty-two days until race day! Is it time to freak out yet? I may already be freaking out, but really I just need to know when it becomes socially acceptable to show it on the outside.

This week was a cut back week. The next two weeks on my schedule will be my peak for training. Instead of a ‘peak week’, I decided to do a 14 day-long peak. Fun stuff! Time for the final push before race day. Here’s a breakdown of last week’s training:

Monday – 3 mile easy run on the treadmill after work.

Tuesday – Cross training: 30 Day Shred level 3 Jillian Michaels workout

Wednesday –  Rest.

Thursday – 6 mile hill workout with Sven (the treadmill). I did 10 quarter mile repeats for a total of 1,239 feet in elevation gain. Two of my repeats were done while power hiking on 15% incline.

Friday – Cross training: 30 Day Shred level 3 Jillian Michaels workout

Saturday – 10 mile long trail run. This run was a million times better than last week’s run. It was so nice to finally just be able to relax and enjoy a nice long run on trails. The weather was perfect for a trail run, too: low 40’s and partly cloudy.

I ran with a new Garmin (because my old one bit the dust after 4 wonderful years) and in addition to the usual stuff, this one also tracks heart rate. It uses a sensor on the back of the watch to monitor your pulse in your wrist, so no heart rate strap is needed which is pretty cool. I used a heart rate calculator to determine that my aerobic zone should be 136 to 146 beats per minute. My watch shows the different HR zones and it also had my aerobic in the same range. I haven’t ever tracked my HR while training, but I know that the aerobic zone is pretty much where you want to be for both a long run and a long endurance race. I plan to pay more attention to it during my final weeks of training and on race day.

One funny thing about being able to monitor my heart rate. I had two different loose dog encounters during my run. Neither were bad experiences, as both times the dogs were well-behaved, relaxed, and friendly. But before my brain could even register how their body language looked, my heart rate spiked right up to 200 bpm the second they came in sight.

I also had my first ankle roll on trails this training cycle. At least I made it to week 10 before having one, that’s pretty good. This time it was about 3.5 miles in and my right ankle. It was one of those big rolls where your ankle bone actually bumps the ground. Luckily, it only hurt for about a quarter mile and then I was alright. No swelling or bruising. Oh and I spotted another Christmas ornament in a tree – unrelated to when I rolled my ankle 🙂

Sunday – 5 mile easy run with Kim in the afternoon. It was another beautiful day outside, and there were lots of other people out walking and biking on the trail. Dare I say we may be moving on from winter *knock on wood*

Towards the end of our run, we could hear the train approaching town. We tried to “race” him, but of course you can’t outrun a train and he beat us by about a quarter mile to the train depot. Always fun to give it a go, though.

Total Miles: 24 miles
February Total: 121.41 miles

This week was definitely a lot better than my past couple of weeks have been. I focused on making sure I’m eating enough calories each day and drinking enough, and I think it’s made a big difference. This weekly training recap is part of the Weekly Wrap link up, hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin’. Be sure to check out their blogs and see who else is linking up!

Have you ever used heart rate monitoring as an aspect of your training?

P.S. I also wanted to recognize yesterday, as it was the first anniversary of the day we very suddenly lost my sister-in-law Sara, just shy of her 28th birthday. I cannot believe it has already been a year. It often feels like it just happened, while other times it still feels like it can’t be real. It’s something I will never fully understand and it’s not something you move on from. But you do have to find a way to keep moving. Sara wouldn’t want it any other way.