Happy Monday friends!

Now that our Canada vacation is over, it’s back to the real world which includes digging my way through work and blog emails, catching up, and reviewing what our calendar has for the rest of August and September. In case you missed it, I shared our first recap from the trip last week. I am going to dedicate two posts per week over the next three weeks to recapping our Canadian trip details. But today, as part of my return from vacation, it’s time to talk about another fun topic – racing!

During the flight, I realized that in just five weeks we return to Canada to run the Rock’n’Roll Montreal 10k as part of my Rock’n’Blog Ambassador partnership with the Rock’n’Roll race series. While Bo has been to Montreal twice before, this will be my first time visiting the city!  It seems like there are a number of great  bike tours of the city which will allow us an opportunity to get to know the city together while not exhausting our legs.  Since we are both traveling a lot during August and September this is a shorter, two night trip. We are flying in first thing Saturday morning and leaving early Monday morning, following Sunday’s race.

I am thankful that Bo and I decided to drop down to the 10k from the half marathon as the 6.2 mile distance is the perfect way to ease back into training and running after a few months of less focused training. I am excited to start tracking the pace, distance and feel of my runs while preparing for this race. While I could definitely run the 10k distance today, it will be far more enjoyable to feel strong and prepared going into the September 25th race!  Since the race is relatively flat, I am going to focus my limited training on speed and building my mileage versus having a specific hill workout. Since some of my longer runs will be in Prospect Park or include bridges, I will definitely still log a few hilly miles over the course of the next few weeks.

10k Training Plan

• Runs: 3x a week (1 speed, 1 mid-distance run and 1 longer run at goal 10k pace per week)
• Yoga: At least 1x a week
• Cross Training: At least 2x a week

Goals

• Enjoy the race.
• Run a strong race.
• Possibly run a PR (57:17 or 9:19 pace per mile) depending on weather and training

This plan will help me get back on track with the regular workouts and running that I crave, while also ensuring that I am still able to enjoy the flexibility. This plan will allow me plenty of opportunities to workout with friends as well as ensure I do not put too much pressure on myself.  Based on how the first few weeks of 10k training go, I will assess my goals for the Rock’n’Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon which is two weeks after this race.   If the first two weeks go well and I can easily hit my pace goals during my long runs, then I will increase the long runs in preparation for the half marathon and 10k versus limiting them to 6 or 7 miles.

Your turn: Are you heading to Montreal for this race or the half marathon? If you’ve been to Montreal, any restaurant, museum or other recommendations? 

All images are from the official Rock’n’Roll Montreal Website