After being just 0.2 miles shy of my training goal on week 2, I entered Week 3 ready to get closer. Then I stumbled.

Monday: Rest day. Went to my current preferred rock climbing gym after work, took the test, and got belay certified! I used the auto-belay to try some new-to-me routes. Then I went out and sabotaged myself for the next day.

Tuesday: Snooze button overload and was double-booked for dinner at night. Yes, I had 2 dinners and desserts (and 3 drinks).

Wednesday: Al Goldstein Summer Speed Series 5K. I had Shake Shack for lunch (Shackburger, fries, and a concrete) and was still feeling kind of gross at 6:30pm. I jogged a warmup mile and asked people their different pacing plans in the “corral”. I quickly figured out who I should not bother trying to keep up with and who I could try to use as a rabbit. But it didn’t quite work out that way because most everyone went even faster than they planned to. I was hoping for steady 8:30s across the board to test my fitness.

One thing of note with these races is that there’s no chip time mat differential, so your time starts when the gun (horn?) goes off. I tried to get up closer to the front but didn’t want to be run over, so I guess my time includes an extra 20 seconds or so. I bucked the 5K trend of having a fast 1st mile, slow 2nd mile, and struggling speedy final mile. Instead, I had a slowish 1st mile up the hill, then sped up with the 2nd mile’s downhill, then kind of had trouble pushing in the 3rd. Gabby came back around for me and we kept the last half mile pretty fast (I made her tell me stories to keep my mind occupied) then really sprinted in the final 100m. Final average pace was 8:45 for a finish of 27:07 but that’s less than a minute off my PR, so I think I’ll be fine.

Between the run there, the race, and my cooldown, I hit 5.3 miles.

Thursday: I did a run-commute home with the more scenic route which also had fewer lights. I ran into a couple coworkers walking or cycling home, which was cool. The weather was great overall and I made it home in time to shower before seeing Hari Kondabolu live. 6.3 miles total.

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday: I thought about a quick 3-5 miler in the morning but am glad I saved my energy because I went hiking at Breakneck Ridge in the afternoon with some coworkers. When I heard there would be some rock scrambling, I imagined less steep angles than what actually appeared. It was seriously much harder than I thought it would be. But it was awesome! I think our hike (white trail to red to yellow) was 2.8 miles total.

Sunday: Long run day. My NYRR plan called for 9, so I jogged a mile to the usual meeting spot then did 2 park loops with half of the group. Some of the miles were faster than my plan called for (those downhills!) and some were right on target. I could feel some foot tiredness in the final mile home but nothing to worry about. I foam rolled  after then headed out to the beach for some swimming, lounging, fish tacos, and frisbee. Total of 9.0 miles.

Total mileage: 20.7 miles out of 25 (not counting the hiking). This is 17% less than prescribed by NYRR Virtual Trainer, so I’m hoping to not miss that crucial Tuesday run again.