Monday: Arms and abs workout – 10 min. erg warmup; dumbbell bench press; bicep curls; tricep extensions; bent0over rows; tricep push ups, regular pushups,  medicine ball pushup; planks; Russian twists; bird dogs

Tuesday: 4.07 mile tempo run – 1 mi warm; 2 miles @ tempo; 1.07 mile cool (splits: 8:27; 8:00); accidentally did warm up mile in 8:58. Oops.

Wednesday: 50 min. bike: low resistance, high RPM

Thursday: Easy 4 miles

Friday: leg workout – 22 min bike (5.4 miles) warm; clock lunges, walking lunges (with weights at hips and shoulders); calf raises (all three directions); leg press; hip adduction/abduction; squats (tweaked my right knee a li’l, had to quit early. bad form, maybe?); hamstring curls; foam roll and stretch

Saturday: 6 mile long run – hilliest route ever – a little slow overall, but not bad

Another pretty damn good week. I think I may need a lesson on doing squats properly. I was trying to do them a little deeper and near the end (as I was doing this) my right knee weaked a little. I tried to finish the set (I was on about 17 out of 20) and knew this was “bad” pain, and stopped. Nerdy boyfriend has since given me some tips, and I might make him watch me do them sometime to be sure I’m doing it right and am not going to injure myself.

No pilates this week: the instructor was on vacation, and I doubt my gym had a replacement, but honestly, I wouldn’t hae made it anyway. I work for a company that does financial due diligence, and I had so many hard dues this week, on top of the managing editor being on vacation (as well as one of the editors in my office), so things were…. hectic, to say the least. Tuesday I started work at  a.m. and took a break at 4:45 to go for my tempo run. It was absolutely beautiful outside. I was overdressed – it was 50 degrees and mostly sunny. But I was so happy to be out there and running hard. When I got back, I ordered dinner and waited to hear back from an editor and eventually clocked back in to work from about 6:30 p.m. to a little after 8. It was a long-ass day – almost 11 and a half hours – sandwiched between two nine hour days. By the end of Thursday, I was already up to almost 40 hours. Thank goodness for overtime pay. I have another hard due case to work on so next week may also be a little trying, but we won’t be as short-staffed (hopefully).

This weekend was NB’s birthday (he turns 26 today) so we decided to do our long run on Saturday. It was spectacular outside. Middle forties, sunny, windy – true – but doable. I of course designed the hilliest course ever. The first three or so miles were either straight uphill or rolling, so we were slow overall, but we got to explore some new areas and were mostly running in residential spots, so it was peaceful and quiet. We were going through a neighborhood that is primarily Jewish and saw several orthodox men in their big black hats with their payot walking back from shul, which was kind of nice (I’m a conservative Jew myself, though practically I’m probably more of a Reform Jew).

For brunch we threw together a bunch of veggies and some eggs for one of my favorite quick, post-run meals. It’s incredibly easy, actually: chop up whatever veggies you have (peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms), cook them in olive oil (or vegetable oil. Either one is healthier than butter but still tasty. I also add garlic); when they’re almost ready, prepare eggs in a bowl – however many you like or however many you’re serving – and beat them well. Pour them in and scramble them with the veggies. We didn’t have any, but near the end I usually add spinach. I don’t like cooked spinach much but it’s best to warm it at least a little – it releases more nutrients. Add cheese to taste, if you like. We had: red bell pepper, mushrooms, jalapenos, tomatoes, salsa, and shredded cheddar cheese. Tons of protein. Healthy carbs, fat and fiber. Lots and lots of nutrients from all those vegetables. The more color, the better.

Next week is a cut back week, and also when the four day a week runs start. All my runs next week are three easy miles. We’ll see if I can maintain that: the 10 day forecast looks great, so it’ll be tempting to go faster. I’m going to try to do my Friday runs at the gym, much as I hate the treadmill, so I can do more cross-training, but we’ll see. I think it’s supposed to rain that day anyway so it might be a good excuse.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weather and having a good training week. In the meantime, keep Japan in your prayers.