St. George week one done!

Week one of training in St. George is done and in the books!  And I'm quite happy with how it went.   The awesome thing about St. George is it's surrounded by a ton of mountains, so any yucky weather that's coming tends to hit those mountains and dump it all there.  So we are left with beautiful views, stunning backdrops, and no snow!  So many of my workouts have been difficult to keep up my focus because I just want to look at the scenery. 

I didn't have quite the training volume that I had in South Carolina, but the quality of everything was higher than in SC.  I'm pretty tired, but feeling much better than at the end of my first week in SC.  To me that equals improvement!  This week consisted of; two distance workouts, three speed sessions over two days, two strength sessions, a water aerobics class, three "filler" days, lots of laughing, fun, great company, and good food (I could probably work on my cooking skills, but hey, it's nutritious and filling and decent).  

I tried a new workout Tuesday for my speed session, it was a fartlek, but after the first 1K hard I did 200 medium and 800 hard.  It was an interesting variation.  I'm looking forward to doing it again.  It didn't go quite how I wanted it, but I think most of that was due to traveling the day before.  My long walk Thursday was at the fastest pace I've done in months and months and months.  Saturday I did a workout I haven't done in probably a year and a half.  It was 5k, 4K, 3K, 2K, 1K.  I was a little apprehensive about it, but it went really well!  Finishing up at an average pace of 5:02 per K.  It would've been under 5 per K if I hadn't messed up my watch at the start of the 4K and just gone sort of spacey, but it was a very good learning lesson.   I finished the week off with a 35K.  Not as fast as Thursday, but my poor legs were pretty tired.  It was still at a decent clip though.  I'm thinking of moving my longest walk of the week to Thursday instead of Sunday.  That way it won't be right after a hard speed session and weights. 

(New workout gear?)

I did find again during my long walk today that as times slowed down if I really focused on technique it would tend to pick up.  Until the end, then I was just plain tired :)  

Five weeks to go until the 50K.  Things are going as planned.  I couldn't be staying with more awesome and supportive people (besides my hubby, of course) here in St. George.  When I was doing my speed work on the bike trail someone yelled, "Go, Erin!" at me.  Took me by surprise!  I guess lots of people have seen Marianne's awesome story. 

(Lentils, spaghetti sauce, peas, and chicken meatballs.  Simple and yummy!)

The journey continues!  Easy day Monday, going to the aqua class and an easy shake out walk.