Week of Jan. 14-20

I now have four weeks left to get ready for the 50K trial race. Here's what my second week back into training looked like from Jan. 14-20...

Monday: 30 minutes on treadmill with incline set at 10 percent the entire run which made it very tough. (I prefer treadmill running at times, especially when I don't have many hills to run on outside and I have a hilly race ahead. This was definitely a hard run.)
Tuesday: 5 minutes, plus 12 times 1-minute hard and 1-minute easy. Good workout, ran the hard sessions on pavement and on grass along the road. Felt good by the end of the run, which was a good thing.
Wednesday: 15 minutes, plus 15 by 30 seconds all out on treadmill with incline set at 10 percent, plus 10 minutes. Very good treadmill workout; I could definitely feel it on the lungs and the legs; should provide needed strength and got my leg muscles really firing.
Thursday: No official run but played basketball and volleyball for over two hours. I feel this type of cross-training really helps.
Friday: 31 minutes easy to medium paced, plus 2 sprints.
Saturday: 11 miles easy to medium paced run with Shelbyville Road Runners.

Notes: I also did leg excercises three nights and some strength training that involved core and arms.

Final thoughts: Overall, it was a decent week but I have a ways to go during the next four weeks before the 50K race. I'm going to increase my weekly runs, include a tougher mid-week workout and complete a longer long run this coming weekend. The next two weeks are very important with my limited preperation. This Saturday, with three weeks until the race, I will most likely complete my longest long run.