Looking back, looking ahead W18/W17

Welcome to a special edition of Looking Back, Looking Ahead! (No, being a day late is not the special part.) Yesterday was the end of Week 18, and today is exactly 17 weeks until race day.

What was I was supposed to do in Week 18? Did I do it?

• Sunday: 3 miles YES!
• Monday: strength training YES!
• Tuesday: 2 miles NOPE (due to muscle strain)
  
• Wednesday: 3 miles YES!
• Thursday: 2 miles YES!
• Friday: strength training NOPE (just plain ran outta gas)
• Saturday: 3 miles YES! (Actually, I did 4.16 miles!)
  

Oh well, 5 outta 7 isn't too bad. I was smart not to run on Tuesday, though.

Here's the special part: the other day, Coach Paul sent a message asking us runners to provide feedback on the training schedule. Running three days back-to-back and five days out of seven, and having no rest days, is pretty rough, and I told him so. So he and I worked out a new training schedule for me, one which actually includes (wait for it) ...a rest day!! Of course, I walk the dogs twice a day every day, so there is never a day when I am not active, but it's such a relief to not have anything "extra" one day a week. My new rest day is Monday, so tomorrow I will feel like Cleopatra lounging on her settee and having peeled grapes dropped into her mouth.

Coach Paul also encouraged me to look into Pilates as a cross-training activity, so I ordered a Pilates for Dummies DVD. I hear Pilates is pretty tough, so we'll see how I do.

Here's what I'm supposed to do in Week 17 according to my shiny new training schedule:

• Sunday: 3 miles YES! (Already done.)
  
• Monday: REST YES! (See, I'll get to put one YES! a week no matter what I do!)
  
• Tuesday: 2.5 miles (I didn't do this run last week, so I'll try to bump it up to 2.5 this week)
  
• Wednesday: CROSS-TRAIN for 30 minutes
  
• Thursday: 3 miles
  
• Friday: CROSS-TRAIN for 30 minutes
• Saturday: 3 miles (group run)
  

What I like about this schedule is that I only run two days in a row (Sat/Sun) and then get a rest day on Monday. I have a day between runs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I'm still running four days a week, so I'm not slacking off that much.

Fundraising got a shot in the arm this week from three wonderful dog people (Julie, Wendy, and Cindy). Thank you ladies so much for keeping my donation meter moving further and further to the right! Once the meter catches up with the checks I've sent in, it should stand at $1460.50 -- only $240.00 away from my goal! That is a really fantastic feeling. Thank you so much to all of my donors!