It was great to run in Colorado Springs for week 8 of marathon training. Seven weeks to go until I run the Tunnel Light Marathon in North Bend, WA. Here’s what my workouts looked like last week from Coach Dawn’s plan:

Monday – Plan: Rest day.
Actual: Rest day for traveling.Tuesday- Plan: 40-50 minutes
Push the effort level up on a few hills for around 30 seconds to a minute. Effort will likely feel harder anyway with the elevation, but push the pace a little. Do the harder efforts starting around mid run and recover back downhill, or walk or easy jog for a couple minutes. This will be kinda like an unstructured fartek.
Suggest bringing water on the run and keeping hydrated.
Garden of the Gods or Red Rock Canyon Park.
Actual: I decided to go to Red Rock Canyon. Boy was it tough with the higher altitude. I was out of breath so fast. In the beginning I stopped a lot because I kept getting out of breath. It was also hilly and I didn’t know where I was going. I did pick it up mid run and ran harder for 30 sec at a time. I ended up running for 45 minutes and enjoyed the scenery.Wednesday – Plan: 4-6 miles.
Flat run if you will be hiking. If not, you can do something hilly.
Actual: I ended up running from my sister in law’s place and didn’t realize how hilly her neighborhood was to another place with trails, Austin Bluffs Open Space. The views were awesome but I almost got lost on this one since there were different paths you could take and no signage. Glad I found my way back and it was a good workout.Thursday – Plan: Easy 4. You can take off this day if you need to. 
Actual: Ran 4 miles and went a different way around the neighborhood that wasn’t as hilly. Had a nice run and didn’t have to stop for being out of breath on this one.Friday – Plan: Pikes Peak Greenway Would be good for long run
Here are a couple of starting points
https://coloradosprings.gov/parks/page/monument-valley-park
https://coloradosprings.gov/parks/page/america-beautiful-park?mlid=4531

Workout-
5 miles easy
7 x 30 seconds hard/2:30 easy to moderate
2 miles easy
2 miles moderate
finish at easy pace, with last 0.5 mi moderate to hard.
Actual: I ended up starting at Monument Valley Park and wasn’t sure how this Fartlek long run would go but it ended up going well. My breathing was pretty good and I don’t think the altitude was a problem for me on this one. Maybe because it was five days in, I dunno but I think the run went well and ran it as planned. I sure was sweaty at the end though.

Saturday – Plan: Rest day.
Actual: Rest day. Traveled back home.Sunday – Plan: 15 minutes easy.
15 minutes moderate.
Actual: Wasn’t happy to wake up early for this one since I had to go to work, but got it done. I was tired and felt ok. It did feel a little easier to run and noticed my heart rate was lower after being at a higher altitude.

Total miles = 30.33 miles. It was a fun week in Colorado Springs. I was happy to get my workouts in when on vacation and it was interesting to run at a higher altitude.

As for the highlights of the rest of the week:

We went to Colorado Springs to visit my new nephew and for my sister in law’s wedding. Here’s a cute pic of hubby and my nephew. He’s such a happy baby. We rarely heard him cry.

We went on a short hike at Garden of the Gods. It’s such a cool place to explore.We also went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I got to pet a giraffe :).That pretty much wraps up my week. How’d your week go? Any races coming up?

I’m linking up with HoHo Runs and Wendy of Taking the Long Way Home  for the Weekly Wrap.