Naples Half / Broke Man's WWU Training Week 8

One of the houses along our Christmas run.

Happy Monday! I'm back with my Weekly Review linkup with Hoho Runs and MissSippiPiddlin. My training cycle focuses on the Broke Man's Winter Warm Up (7.5 miler) and the Naples Half Marathon. You can read about each race in Week 1's recap. 

One of two sunny runs this week (Tuesday)

Week of Dec 21–27

Monday: 4.1 miles, 8:54 pace
Tuesday: 3 miles, 8:26 pace
Wednesday: 1 mile, 8:05
Thursday: 6.2 miles, 8:58 pace
Friday: 2.5 miles, 8:22 pace
Saturday: 2.2 miles, 8:33 pace
Sunday: 7.1 miles, 9:04 pace

Total: 26.3 miles

I woke up a bit late Monday morning, but put on my rain gear for a wet 4 miler and still made it to work at a decent time. (I was only splashed by one car!) My office Christmas party was Tuesday night, but I didn't wake up early enough for a run before work, so I had to leave work before sunset. I ran 3 miles instead of 6, and even though my pace looks great it was a tough run. The work Christmas party was fun. We had a White Elephant gift exchange (I got some North Face scarves!) and I was able to sample tons of weird beer without drinking too much. Because of my late-ish night, I didn't wake up early Wednesday for a run. I choose it as my one mile "rest day" and convinced Alex to run with me just before dark.

Ho Ho Ho

I used my free time on Christmas Eve for my 6 miler. I wore a holiday shirt and remembered pretty quickly why I don't wear cotton on runs. Hot hot hot. It was a rough run and I had some pain in my knee as I was running up- and downhill. (By the way, I'm listening to Serial season 2 and I'm not getting into it. Anyone else?) After Alex got off work we headed to my mom and step dad's house to spend the night. We alternate holidays with our families and went to his last year. We watched a few movies, including an awesomely bad sci-fi movie called Christmas Icetastrophe (which we all enjoyed) and ate a ton of junk food. It was great.

We both slept in on Christmas, then opened presents with my parents and had breakfast. It was a relaxing, leisurely morning. Around noon we went to my step brother's house for a huge, tasty Christmas lunch, played a few games, and opened more presents. Alex and I got home before sunset, put on our hi-vis gear, and went for a run in a fancy neighborhood nearby to see Christmas lights. It was really great to see so many people out enjoying the warm weather. The sunset was pretty epic. I ran 2.5 miles and wanted to go for 3 (Alex stopped running around 2), but something hurt right at 2.5 and I stopped immediately.

Christmas sunset

This knee pain was my first potential injury of the season/run streak. Even though I want to run ~20 more miles before the end of the month, I know I need to listen to my body. On night runs I wear less supportive shoes that glow in the dark and I think they were the cause of the pain. I used these shoes again on Saturday, but added old Superfeet insoles and ran on a soft track. It seemed to help. By the way, my streak almost ended on Saturday. We went to my dad and step mom's for Christmas #3 and by the time we left it was late, dark, and rainy. It took some effort, but I went to the local track to get in some miles. I concentrated on my stride and my knee didn't hurt. Once I started I didn't want to stop, but knew I needed to take it easy.

Sunday's soggy track run.

I saved my long-ish run for Sunday. Once again, it was raining. To protect my knee, I decided to go back to the cushy track and wear my normal stability shoes. I thought 7 miles on a track might be terrible, but honestly it wasn't too bad. I took a few water breaks between miles, plus the weather cooperated. The rain stopped for the middle 5 miles and didn't kick up until I was finished. I may continue to run on the track for this week's 5 and 6 milers.... just to be safe. This Friday we have a 5k and I'd like to be pain free before and after!

Holiday fun

In other news, I received my card and a treat for Fairytales and Fitness's Holiday Card Swap. My secret blogger was Juliana at 4WellRules. She has a new blog follower now! Check her out. I also got my Oiselle Volée Ohio Secret Santa gift from Kari (one of our state leaders)! The shirt is suuuuuper soft. I'm excited to try it out!

And finally, I'm up to day 57 on my run streak. Less than a week to go!

How was your holiday?
Have you picked a New Year's Resolution? (Mine is always drink more water.)