[S]he Conquers Who Endures

10 miles whatever pace to hit my corrected gait. Okay, I guess that's a 7:47 pace. :) I'll take it! I continued to work on minimizing my vertical and instead pushing forward. I noticed to helps to increase my cadence and focus on kicking my feet up behind me. I feel my center of gravity drop to my hips and thighs, my head is steady, and the trees fly by in my peripheral. It's awesome. I actually had very little soreness at this pace even at the end of my run. I attribute that to the decreased pounding accumulated by my lower vertical. I think I'm on to something here! 

And note, I beat my 10 miler PR today on a training run, not going all out, no gels, wearing my fuel belt!! And, I'm back in the game! :) 

Recovery run, 8:45 pace. Ouch, my knee hurt during this run!!! I think bc of the slow pace, but I couldn't go faster on this run.

Crossfit

3 rounds:

50 squats

7 chest to bar

10 hang power clean (45 lbs)

Time: 6:36

5x1min plank

4x20 band pulls 

Bikram and PT exercises.

Oh weather! I drove up to the suburbs to meet up with a friend for some tempo miles. It started raining and was 55 out and the runners that were out did not look happy! I was not prepared for the cold rain. Luckily my friend wasn't either. I drove back to the city and ran on the dreadmill! I can't believe I actually ran on the dreadmill! I'm the type of person to run outside no matter what. I've run 20 milers at 0 F and 85 F since I hate the treadmill so much. Oh well. I did 6 miles at 8:13 pace then 10x100 m strides 10 MPH to 11 MPH (6:00 to 5:36 min/mi pace) at 1% incline.  

4 mile recovery run. 9:00 average pace. The path was so deserted probably because of all the runners tapering for the marathon Sunday. It was funny to see a runner because they would smile at me and say "hi" (more so than normal). I'm guessing those were the marathon runners that were putting in their final mileage. Tapering marathoners are so cute! 

15 mile long run, sooooo cold at start!...and finish!!! 39F/44F. 8:13 average pace. Whoopsies! Honestly, it did feel pretty easy. I felt like I was running slow!! I love practicing this new gait. :)

Course marshaling the Chicago marathon tomorrow! I'm so excited to watch the elites fly by! I never spectated a marathon before, hopefully I'll absorb some of their super powers and witness some new course PRs with this cold weather! :) 

5 mile recovery run 8:57 min/mile average pace. Felt pretty good. Not looking forward to moving across the country from my fiancé this week. At least I have my running to comfort me. :)

PM crossfit:

max snatch (45 lbs because I don't know what I'm doing)

WOD: 8 min AMRAP

2x pullups (which became ring rows because I'm a weakingly) 

2x box jumps

4x pullups

4x box jumps

...

Completed up to 16 reps!

PostWOD: 

150 abmat situps

50 leg extensions 

Windy run! I don't know what I was trying to do here. Last week I ran 10 miles at 7:47 min/mi pace. I guess I was trying to beat that even though I should not be running this faster than marathon past (no faster than 7:55). So, I headed out, very surprised for having zero knee pain by mile 4. Then a minor pinch that went away. When I turned around on the trail I was slammed by the wind and my knee just couldn't take anymore. I think this happened mostly because of cross fit the evening before. I tired out my glutes then of course when I run they can't hold good form for a fast, longer run. Oh well, I take this run as a learning experience. First 7 miles were 7:50 min/mi pace overall AP was 8:13 min/mi. Pretty decent after snatching, box jumps, and leg extensions the night before! :)

I was very worried I'd suck up this run pretty well, actually I was pretty positive I would. The conditions did not support anywhere near a great run. This was during my move on the way from Chicago to Cambridge in OH. I am temporarily moving from my fiancé which I am VERY sad about! I had pretty little sleep the last few days and my run Tuesday ended pretty terribly. Hey, this is what running's all about though, you work with the conditions, try to learn something, and sometimes things just fall into place. Maybe I NEEDED a great run. It was very chilly (40 F), I started out on a 2 mile warmup going to fast and constantly trying to slow down from sub 8s to a 8:45ish pace. Then 5 mile tempo. Last tempo was 4 miles with my awesome fast running partner at 7:22 min/mi AP with 3 miles of tailwind and 1 mile of headwind. I don't think I can beat 7:22 but I'll see what feels good today. My splits were: 7:18, 7:23, 7:18, 7:30, 7:11 for an average pace of 7:20 min/mi!!! How???!!! Who cares, I'll take it! Nice 2.2 mile cool down then back on the road to get to Cambridge! :)

5 mile recovery run in Cambridge/Boston 8:35 min/mi AP trying to run slow! I can't believe 8:35 feels as easy as it does now!!

Long run in Cambridge. This was supposed to be a 16 mile run with 10 miles at marathon pace. The elevation profile of this run is kind of weird. It has a steady 200 ft incline over 6 miles then 90 ft decline over 2 miles and turn around (90 ft incline then 200 ft decline back). I feel good about my run, but maybe I was cheating since there was so much decline back? I tried to push myself down the decline but was limited my the pounding causing knee pain. I did 8:30 min/mi pace for the first 6 miles then averaged 7:59 min/mi for the last 10 for an overall average pace of 8:08 min/mi for 16 miles! I guess I shouldn't worry about how easy my marathon pace miles were because for every downhill I did run uphill and still averaged faster than BQ pace for 16 miles!!! This is my longest run BQing, a milestone day for me. :)

Ahhh! I had to run by myself in the dark in a new city!! It partly made me run faster because I was afraid of the boogie man and partly made me run slower because it was dark and the path wasn't completely smooth. It's taper week and I did 7:41 min/mi average pace with splits of: 7:29, 7:50, 7:30, 7:46, 7:51, 7:43, 7:44, 7:42. I can't believe I'm consistently training at sub 8s now! So fun! :)

5 mile recovery run. Boston side of St. Charles. Oh, my legs and calves are sore from last night's run! I like it and liked this recovery run! 9:00 min/mi average pace.

PM crossfit

5 rounds:

15 ball slams

10 pushups

15 GHD

10 goblet squats 

Bikram = active rest day

1.8 mile warmup, 12x400 m repeats with 200 m recovery, 1.8 mile cool down. Paces were: 6:49, 6:29, 6:20, 6:17, 6:17, 6:16, 6:14, 6:03, 5:51, 6:23, 6:18, 5:50 min/mi. My previous PR for 400 m repeats was 6:08 min/mi back in July right before I hurt my knee, and now I didn't realize I broke that 3 times in this workout!! :) 

Recovery run. 9:00 min/mi pace.

12 miles at 8:09 min/mi average pace. Whoopsies! It was recovery week and I ran with my speedy friend I was training with before I got injured. It felt pretty good and we kept trying to slow down at least! :)

11 mile steady state run. 7:47 min/mi average pace!! I was worried, I'm not getting nearly as much sleep since I'm working now and it seems like I just have to throw in my runs when ever I get a chance. My glutes are achy where my hamstring attaches to whatever they attach to up near where your glutes attach. I blame this on not getting a proper deep tissue massage since I moved (2 weeks now). It did feel like that tightness worked itself out during the run, but towards the end and afterward it came back a bit. I can't believe I ran so well! :)

Recovery run 9:00 min/mi pace. Weights at home: bis, shoulders, chest, step ups, lateral band walks, crunches and bicycles. 

I'm thinking of nixing cross fit. I have less time and when I dialed back cross fit, I got faster. This is becoming a realization on my stubborn self that the specificity of training is a real entity. I'll do more running specific weights on my own and put more efforts into running faster. I'm still building my mileage anyway so I'm going to have less gas for cross fit anyway.

Pardon the 200 different Nike Pegasus 29 I have, I am trying to have shoes in FL and IL as well as MA so when I visit people my shoes are already there. :) 

3 mile warmup, 5 mile threshold, 2 mile cool down. I wasn't going to hold myself to my 7:20 pace pr threshold run I set the last time I did a similar training run. This course is so much tougher than that course (constant little ups and downs). I guess I did better than I thought though! My splits were: 7:20, 7:23, 7:17, 7:17, 7:03, for an average pace of 7:16! My calves were pretty tight after, but not too bad. I don't know if I'm pushing my pace too fast in my training runs or am just adjusting because I'm faster? I still have 11 weeks until my marathon and I don't want to blow up!!

Bikram AM

Massage PM! 

Windy long run in FL. 22 mph sustained winds. I think the wind was pushing most of the way, although at some points it seemed like the wind was coming from all directions. 80F starting temperature. 8:12 min/mi overall pace! My longest run yet at BQ pace. I finished strong with my last 2 miles at 7:46 and 7:42 pace. Once I finished I realized I'm probably pushing my pace too hard lately. I think I'm going to cut back my paces this upcoming week. I still have 10 weeks till marathon and I don't want to implode! :) 

7 mile recovery run with 6x100 m strides. Because of the hurricane I had to dreadmill this run up! Maintained a slow 9:15 min/mi pace at 1% incline. 0.1 mile repeats at 10 MPH (6:00 min/mi), the fastest the treadmill would go. My legs were sooooo incredibly tight in the beginning and I was worried I pushed way too hard last week. My legs loosened after 3 miles and felt really good. Followed my run with a ton of stretching which made my legs feel even better. Time to hunker down for the storm! And what's with this constant feeling like my hammies are on the verge of cramping? I took a salt tab last night. Is that an electrolyte thing or fatigued muscle thing?

Holy downpour! So glad I have my Nike shields to keep my feet dry...well, until the torrential downpour at the end of my run! I wanted to slow my paces this week. I'm worried I am pushing too hard and won't be able to maintain these paces for the next 10 weeks of marathon training. Last week I did 11 miles at 7:46 pace. I was planning on dropping it to 8:05 pace. My GPS was all wacky at the beginning then the path was all messy from the leaves and puddles (and it was dark) that I didn't want to keep checking my watch so I more or less went on "feel" which felt like I was sandbagging a little. Ended up being a 7:53 pace for 12 miles! Stretched up nice n good after my run and didn't feel too spent. :) I'm happy about the slightly slower pace and how I felt, but I think I'll try to drop it back to 8:05ish next week for my midweek 14 miler. If I get past this week, I'll make it past the point I got injured this summer! :) And the good news is my knee was 100% pain-free! Ya-yay!

Bikram and deep tissue massage later.

I'm happy with how my legs felt after the 12 miler last night. They were worked but not too spent. Bikram felt AMAZING stretching out all that tension. Combined with a good session of deep tissue and I think these legs will be in business!