Something's Gotta Give

Good run this morning.  We had 10 on the schedule, though the route ended up only being 9.7.  Score!  It was particularly nice since I had a hearing at 9. 

Anyway, the plan today was 3 miles easy, then 5 miles in heart rate zone 2, then 2 miles easy (back in zone 1).  Unfortunately, due to a minor math error and/or my forgetfulness, I had the wrong numbers in my head for zone 2.  I was consistently 2-3 beats above that, putting me in zone 3.  Oops. 

It's starting to feel easier as I start getting back into my training groove. 

But this morning, my coach asked all of us how many days per week we're running.  The schedule we have is 5 days with an optional 6th.  Double oops.  Pretty much everyone answered 5.  One person said 6.  Then he got to me.  3 good ones for sure, and 4 I think, but I'm trying to rearrange a bit to be at 5 and I do cross-train or do something else.  Uh, oops. 

What to do?

The schedule from our coach goes like this:
Sun - long
Mon - rest
Tues - group run, usually 8-10
Wed - solo 6-8 depending on week
Thurs - group run 10, often including some speed
Fri - rest or optional sixth run day, seems to be about 5 miles
Sat - solo 6-8 depending on week

My current schedule is this:
Sun - long
Mon - boot camp with hubby, usually I skip any running involved on Mondays
Tues - group run as scheduled
Wed - boot camp with hubby then run home (2.8 miles home, and I can add on some, plus running a varied amount at camp)
Thurs - group run as scheduled
Fri - boot camp with hubby (sometimes involves some running, never over 2 miles)
Sat - lazy, lazy rest usually

So here's the problem.  I love going to boot camp with my hubby.  It's something we have done together for so many years.  If I go to camp, there's usually time to run a few miles afterward, but it's tough to run more than about 4 because of the whole "work" thing. 

And I love taking Saturdays off since it's the only day of the week I can sleep in.  But it's cold enough now that I could run in the afternoon on Saturdays, but that means working out 7 days per week, and I'm paranoid about overdoing it (not to mention lazy). 

What to do, what to do? 

Realistically, maybe I need to skip camp on Mondays, I don't really get much out of it if I'm not doing any of the running and I also try to skip any leg-intensive exercises so that my legs can recover from the long run.  But I also need to get in those Wed miles, and that might mean skipping camp twice in a week, which means no workout time with hubby, and a big waste o' money. 

I'm okay with just having whatever running we do at camp on Fridays be my optional miles. 

I need to start getting the Saturday runs in 100% of the weeks.  Especially now because I can do them whenever I want given the weather.  In the summer, it's fairly critical to be done running by about 7 because it gets oppressively hot, but with our current temps, I could run at the hottest part of the day and it's still only in the mid-60s (and this is unusually warm, most Saturdays it probably won't even be that warm). 

I just have to figure out Mon and Wed.  I love being at camp with my husband.  And I'm paying for it. 

So switch to 7 days per week and just get to the office fairly late on Wednesdays and do the Wed run after camp? 

As I mentioned before, after my blender disaster, we are using a new blender.  For breakfast, I usually do an English muffin with pepper jack cheese, and a smoothie (usually spinach, frozen fruit (strawberries and cherries, sometimes adding things like peaches, pineapple or rhubarb)).  Our new blender has these cool travel cups, which I tried using for the first time this morning. 

I think I can speed along my morning routine by using the travel cup and taking the smoothie with me when I get in the shower.  It worked well this morning.  It reminded me a little bit of being in college or law school when I'd drink while getting ready to go out -- drinks were cheaper at home, it was fun to have a beer or something in the shower, and it was fun to get to the bar already buzzed. 

So maybe for the next few weeks I try that.  Saturday runs as scheduled.  Wednesdays camp and running and late for work.  Mondays camp with no running, or skipping camp entirely if I'm getting too sore or too tired.

If I can force myself to do Saturdays, that will get me to 4 days every single week.  And if I can pull the double on Wednesdays, that will be my 5th day.  And then the bonus day will be Fridays, whenever running is included at camp. 

One other possible solution is to start running at night on Wednesdays.  Our group has this cool social run that starts next week Wed. and lasts for 6 weeks to prepare for the St. Pat's 5k, which is my favorite race EVER.  I have a bunch of friends who go for the 6 weeks and I could pretty easily get in 6 miles with the group.

The big obstacle is that our toughest run of the week is Thurs mornings at 5:15 (maybe soon to be starting at 5:00, coach is having us vote).  So I'd have to go very, very easy on Wed nights in order to bring it on Thursdays. 

Might try that for a couple weeks and see how it works out.  Still very unsettled...