June was a pretty great month training wise. I ended the month feeling stronger than ever! Hopefully this trend continues into July. Right now the month isn’t off to a great start after over sleeping by 3 hours this morning and missing my morning run along the lake. But, I didn’t make excuses and squeezed it in this afternoon. July’s mantra is going to be “no excuses” but we’ll talk more about that later. Now let’s recap last week’s training!

Monday: I’m having an issue waking up early Monday mornings which means tempo runs on the treadmill. I really can’t stand the treadmill these days but being able to squeeze in a 6 mile tempo run during lunch is definitely nice. My prescribed pace was 9:23 for the 4 tempo miles which felt tough but not impossible. Later in the evening my tired legs headed to the pool for my first swim meet! We did about 400 meters warm-up before the actual event which was the 100 meter relay. This meet was a huge non-scale victory which I’ll talk about more in a dedicated post but I can’t believe that just 4 months ago I’d never swum more than 100 meters!

Tuesday: There is a substitute teaching the 90 minute power yoga class this Summer and dare I say I love her just as much as our regular teacher, Patric. They have totally different styles but her Mumford & Sons heavy playlist was the perfect music when paired with lots of long holds, inversions and hip openers.

Wednesday: This 5 mile run included 3 miles of speed which was definitely a challenge! It was a speed pyramid with each interval getting faster paced. My “slowest” interval was 1200 meters at an 8:26 pace and my “fastest” interval was 400 meters at an 8:12. While these speeds weren’t as fast as previous workouts the length of the intervals made it tougher. I’m also finding that the 1 mile warm-up helps me get into the groove of speed work. Historically I often skipped the warm-up because I didn’t think it was “important.” Trust me, if you’re shirking on your warm-ups or cool-downs try focusing on them for a week and your legs and body will thank you!

Thursday: I headed to the gym during lunch to do some biking only to find the bikes occupied. Instead of leaving I hopped over to the weights area and did a 30 minute strength workout sprinkled with 5 cardio intervals. I ended the session with pull-up practice and arm hangs.

Friday: Rest day!

Saturday: I think I’m still smiling from the Mt. Blanc 10k trail race! It was seriously so much fun! Sunday: The weather forecast in Geneva was 100% rain with the chance of severe thunderstorms and hail. When we woke up to the sound of rain we agreed that it may end up being an rest day or a perfect day to break out the yoga mat and pull out an old DVD. But, around 4:30 when the rain paused and the sun broke through we decided to head over to the pool. Things worked out and we had the lanes all to ourselves for an hour of drills. Bo helped me with my form and led me through some kicking drills. By the end of the session I swam 1,500 meters and realized just how much I enjoy swimming outside versus inside. Hopefully we can squeeze in more outdoor swim practices this month!

How was your June? Do you have something you’re focusing on this month to help keep your training on track during vacations or the Summer heat?