Sluggish Week but strong finish

It wasn't the pinnacle of fitness weeks this week with the weather we had here. I've missed running outside.

I attended my regular Basic Training classes this week. There were definitely some hard workouts. Tuesday was nice because half of it was spent in the pouring rain running and various other fun stuff. Being the temperature was warm it was actually nice. Thursday was the hardest workout for me yet. It just kills me how weak my upper body is. But there is no question it is getting better as time goes. I think we did at least 200 push ups in this session, 125 crunches, and 50 or so pull ups. I can only do like 1 without help. Ugh. This was all mixed in with a tough round oh calisthenics. Thanks God Friday was a rest day I needed it. This morning wasn't bad. Spent little time in the grinder thank goodness and did a good run then we hit the pool. Rod was gracious enough to give a swim clinic after class. Thanks Rod.

One note on the run this morning during class for me was when we got towards the end of class I actually felt like I was getting stronger. The first part of the runs are always the hardest for me getting all warmed up but I definitely after the muscles get loose I feel more endurance coming through. It still amazes me how my body has turned around in a short time. Still a long path but definite progress.

After class I went to the Eno state park and did a trail run this time and not just a hike. I had no idea how different running on a trail would be than a road. The trail was the Cox Mountain trail and it is almost 4 miles I think. The biggest difference for the trail running is the short dips of up and down instead of the gradual long hills. Gets more burn time in seems like throughout the run. A lot of ankle hazards tho0ugh for sure. I think I'm going to make that a regular event each Saturday after the morning class if anyone wants to join. Nice to start a run somewhat warm. Cox Mountain trail has a couple of steep sections and then right near the end is a very steep hill. I did a sprint up it this week but that about killed me. The weather and scenery was awesome.

Tomorrow sticking with the distance running plan so I'll be doing a 4.5 - 5 mile and I'll probably couple that with a couple of runs through the 11-minute workout. Should be an awesome day tomorrow weather wise.