Saucony Flo50 Summer Training Blog: Rafaella Gibbons

Week 1 ( July 6 - July 11 )

After I competed at NBON, running the two mile, I took a total of ten days off to recover from the extra long track season. Right after NBON I took three days off and started up running no longer than 7 miles till Saturday. Then I took a whole week off because I was on vacation at Seaside Beach for a week, which is why I waited to take a full week off so I wouldn’t have to run on my vacation. It was really nice to not have to run for a total of ten days to give a chance for my legs to rest and to not have to worry on running during my vacation. My first week back starting on Monday was a very light week to just get my legs use to running again.

Monday: My first day back we met at our usual training spot called Blue Jacket Park and I ran a very easy 3 miles. Then I did core after my run. My legs don’t feel very good considering I didn’t run at all for a week straight but I loved running with my team again since I was training by myself for three weeks.

Tuesday: Top ten met at Osprey trail to do tempo mile repeats. This trail is really nice because there is a straight path that goes on for a mile so we don’t have to do any loops when we do mile repeats and there is a lot of shade. I ran three 1 mile repeats and a 1 mile warm up and cool down. My legs feel a little better but they still don’t feel fresh, I just focused on staying with the other girls and not really focusing on my time that much.

Wednesday: All the girls met at another trail called Chuluota and I ran 4 miles, my legs feel so much better and I feel like they are almost back to normal. My pace was what my usual easy runs are and I felt very relaxed during my run. We really like to run on trails, again for the shade since Florida is very sunny and hot so we try to stay as cool as possible.

Thursday: I ran 3 miles, the pace was a little faster than yesterday and my legs are feeling great. I felt really great during this run and after I ran I did core.

Friday: I ran 4 miles and the pace was similar to yesterdays run. My legs now feel like they are back to normal and I felt super good during my run. After we ran we enjoyed Krispy Kreme Doughnuts brought in by a teammate since it was their 78 th anniversary and another one of our teammates was selling her homemade popsicles.

Saturday: A lot of runners around the central Florida area like to meet every Saturday for a long run at a place called Clermont that is a hilly clay road. It is one big loop that is about 10 miles long. I ran 7 miles and I felt very strong and my pace was fast. After our run we like to go to 7-Eleven to get slurpees and today happened to be 7/11, which means we all got free slurpees!

Total Mileage: 26 miles