time to play a little catch up, but first...rock chalk, party people! final four, here we come.

wednesday: day off. decided that one more week with a day off would be a good idea and my legs were feeling tired on monday and even on tuesday, so i thought it wise to just take a down day.

thursday: legs felt worlds better, but the side stitch came back. sort of a funny run, as it was raining pretty hard, but warm, so i decided to try out my new neon orange rain jacket. of course, i got too hot within a mile and took it off and tied it around my waist. within about 1/4 mile, i started to get a side stitch in the same spot as on tues, and in hindisight, i wonder if it had to do with my jacket being tied too tight. i ended up stopping to stretch it out a couple of times but still had it for the duration. 4.5 miles slow and easy - legs felt better, but still a slow pace.

friday: 4 miles, ~7:50 min pace. i had hoped to do more, but delayed too long getting out the door and only had time for 4 miles. i was planning to do my long run on saturday and really wanted to nail it, so i decided it was better to go shorter rather than faster. nice run, though.

saturday: 5.5 miles, 7:45 pace. legs felt unbelievably great on this run and if the sun hadn't been setting, i would have made this my long run day. as it was, i had to work really hard not to go any faster than 7:45 because it felt effortless. also spent a good chunk of the day outside gardening, which, while not the most strenuous, did make me sore back- and glute-wise the next day.

sunday: 9 miles, progressive run starting at 7:45 pace for first 3-4 miles and ending up ~7:15, 6:56, 6:33, ~8:00. this run was awesome. my legs felt a bit stiff and not quite as effortless as on saturday at the start, but stopping to stretch after 2 miles helped some. i still felt like i had to work a little harder than i had the day before, but i was amazed at how easily i brought the pace down to low 7:00s and then under. by the end of the 8th mile, when i was running 6:30 pace, i was working pretty hard to keep it there and my stomach was starting to feel a little tight and unhappy. i'm sure it's just getting used to working hard again. i was pretty sore when i was stretching after, but it was in all the same places that i was sore before the run, so i don't think much of it was specifically from the run. it will be interesting to see how my legs feel tomorrow since they have felt really good while walking around after.

weekly total: 32 in 6 days

goals for next week: 40-42 in 7 or 36-38 in 6, 9-10 mile long run.