Speed work & Strength

After much waffling on Monday and Tuesday (thanks to all who responded), I decided to not squeeze in an 11 mile run.  It has been hard enough for me to get in an 8-9 mile run after a full day of work; I think 11 miles would have been more stressful than helpful, and I probably would have tried to run it faster than I'm supposed to for an easy run.  I'm confident I can run that distance, as I've run it before... and I will be doing 12 this weekend (for real).  So I stuck with my speed work Tuesday night.

6 x 800@10k pace (approx. 9:45 for a 2:15 half).
800m = 1/2 mile

I ended up with all my splits FASTER than 9:45. I highlighted them in Garmin Connect. I was pretty pleased!  As usual, when I'm warming up I feel slow and like there's no way I'll be able to hit the time I want for the first interval.  Then I surprise myself and I get out of my funk.

Rest intervals were 400m or .25 mile.  I walked for about .05 mi. or until my HR dropped into the 140s,

then I returned to a slow run for the remainder of the rest interval until it was time to run faster again.

After my run I did 3 sets of 10 of these for my lower back:

[source]

Wednesday morning before work, I got in my "strength" work, sort of.  This is what I did:
25 crunches
30 second plank on forearms
10 reps, 5lbs Janae's first shoulder move
25 crunches
10 reps, 5lbs Janae's 2nd shoulder move
25 bicycle crunches
10 reps, 5lbs Janae's 3rd shoulder move
40 second plank on forearms
10 reps, 5lbs shoulder press
25 bicycle crunches
60 second plank on forearms
chest pushups - 10 on toes, 10 on knees

I am missing spinning since my gym membership ended...so Wednesday night I hopped on my bike (really quickly) after going grocery shopping and before making dinner.  I biked 3.33 miles in 14:32.  Better than sitting on my butt for those 14.5 minutes, right?