[S]he Conquers Who Endures

16 miles easy

Minuteman Bikepath Arlington, MA; 57F 67% humidity; 363 ft elevation gain; AP 8:21 min/mi 16.01 mi in 2:13:46. My glute felt really, really good so I probably ran this one faster than I maybe should have. It held up the entire run and I finished with weak legs on the downhill, but legs were evenly fatigued! I stayed way on top of my nutrition after this run and tried to focus on recovery the rest of the day. It helps not having to travel this weekend!

30-35 mins easy

Blue Hills trail run Milton, MA; 43F 87% humidity; 126 ft elevation gain. 3.68 mi in 35:07, 9:33 min/mi AP. I was pleasantly surprised how good my legs felt for this! My right glute was completely fine. I finished the run galloping around rocks and feeling very strong and stable in my hip. A massive improvement since running this same route a month ago. I somehow managed to not get lost or fall down this time - making some progress!

40-45 mins easy with 4-6x100m strides

Cambridge, MA Charles River; 34F 69% humidity; 4.18 mi in 9:08 min/mi AP; then 6x100m strides AP 5:21 min/mi; 4.93 mi in 46:36; it felt like I was running strides slower, but they were the same AP as last week! My legs felt pretty strong, kept trying to pull back on my pace on this run.

It was a weird morning to run. It felt like 10am and I actually had to dodge ice patches on the road!! What is happening? Oh yea, winter is coming...thank goodness for that impulsive winter glove buy yesterday kept the hands nice n toasty. :)

15 min w.u. 3 sets of 300, 200, 100 @ 5k effort with 200 jog between reps, 2 mins between sets. 10 min c.d.

Track was closed! Treadmill 1% incline; wu at 6.4 MPH (9:22 min/mi); first set were at 9.1 MPH (6:38 min/mi) last 2 sets were at 9.2 MPH (6:34 min/mi) recoveries were at 6.2 MPH (9:40 min/mi) cd; 5.66 mi in 49:03; I felt relaxed on the on's and finished feeling like I could have done more. I definitely felt a lot more stable in my hip than last time I did this workout!

Finished up with leg strengthening/PT work and core.

My PT slapped some sense into me yesterday. I've been feeling better and better in my hip and am itching so badly to start pushing hard. She reminded me it's not time to push yet, it's still time to heal. There's a lot of time between now and Boston!! I have to keep reminding myself of this! It will also help to store up some mental strength too. Come Feb I can unleash the lion in me!

PM: yoga. I decided I don't like yoga anymore. It felt like I was overstretching things and like I was wasting my time. I think I may have benefited more from resting on the couch than to work tired muscles in a very non-specific way.

40-45 mins easy

Boston/Boston Commons; 37F 87% humidity; 58ft gain; 9:12 min/mi AP 4.9 mi in 45:01; started with really tight calves finished feeling nice and loose; glute felt normal in a great way!

15 min w.u. 2 x 2 mile @MP effort with 3 mins rest. 15 min c.d.

Cambridge Harvard Square to Charles River loop; 61F 88% humidity, windy; splits were: 7:58/8:12/7:47/7:55 for AP 7:58; 7.61 mi in 1:05:01; Right quad tight and sore; both legs felt pretty heavy from the beginning. Probably from PT yesterday. We talked about dropping back from 4 to 3 days of strength per week and dropping down from 2 to 1 session PT per week.

2:10 - 2:30 easy

Charles River; 39F 48% humidity; 17.09 mi in 2:30:02, 8:47 min/mi AP.

OFF or 30 - 35 mins easy

Charles River with my husband; 2.8 mi in 35:03. I unexpectedly lost one of my best friends last night. Haven't eaten or slept. My husband never runs, but knew I needed him today.

40-45 mins easy with 4-6x100m strides

Charles River. It took about 4 hours to muster up the motivation to get out and run today. I just tried to focus on one foot in front of the other. When my heart started hurting, I pushed my legs a little harder to flush out the pain. Somehow the Titanium by David Guetta and Sia helped lift my heart a little. I need to make a playlist to play that song over and over again. I know I need to run, I just need someone to hold me accountable to get out there right now. Tempo on Thursday and 16-17 miles on Saturday is so daunting right now.

First 3.92 miles were at 9:34 min/mi AP then strides were at 5:22 min/mi AP. 

15 min w.u. 6-8 x 2 min hill climb, rest is jog back down. 15 min c.d.

Beacon hill; 8 hill climbs up and down Anderson St. 7.7% grade, total elevation gain 514 ft; AP up hills 12:42 min/mi. 5.99 mi in 1:04:26. Just tried to complete this run. It was hard, my body and heart were not in it.

45-50 mins easy

Cambridge and Boston; 6.21 mi in 53:56, 8:41 min/mi AP. I ran with girls from my group who were doing an easy run. They run faster than I like for easy but it was a nice distraction and made me get out to meet them for a run.

15 min w.u. 3-4 mile tempo between HMP and MP, 3 mins rest 8 x 30 secs on, 1 min off 10 min c.d.

Hit the treadmill because I didn't want to think about pace - entire run at 1% incline. 15 min wu at 6.4 mph, then 4 mile tempo: 0.5 mi @ 7.6 mph, 1.5 mi @ 7.7 mph, 1 mi @ 7.8 mph, 1 mi @ 7.9 mph so AP was 7:43 min/mi, then on's were: 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.9, 10, 10, 10, 10 MPH so AP 6:06 min/mi, 10 min cd @ 6.8 mph. 8.9 mi in 1:13:13. I cried during the wu, then the tempo began feeling easier than expected, I kept running into the handle bars so kept dropping the pace. I was really surprised how easy the 30 sec ons were, I think bc of doing strides every week. I finished feeling like I could have run the whole workout faster, which was nice. I am very happy about this run.

16-17 miles easy;

Niles, IL; 17.0 miles in 2:37:32 9:16 min/mi AP

30-35 mins easy;

Chicago, IL; 3.76 mi in 36:09, 9:37 min/mi AP

40-45 mins easy with 4-6x100m strides;

Chicago, IL; WINDY; 4.19 mi AP 8:13 min/mi; then 6 strides AP 5:53 min/mi. 5.21 mi in 45:03; I'm not sure why this easy run was so much faster especially since there was a really nasty wind. It felt good.

15 min w.u. 8-10 x 200m on, 200m off @ 10k effort 10 min c.d.

MIT track; cold! 15 min wu @ 8:57 min/mi AP; 10x200m @ 48.6 Avg, 6:31 min/mi AP with recoveries ranging from 64-68 sec, 8:34-9:07 min/mi, 10 min cd @ 8:14 min/mi AP. I don't know why this entire run was so fast. My legs were frozen so it was a weird sensation not being able to feel them, I wasn't paying attention to the 200m recoveries, I thought I was running them a lot slower! 200s were not my 10k pace, I think I ran them faster than my 5k pace, whoops. I tried to slow the last 200 down and just ran an unpright, relaxed pace. That split was 48.3 sec - 6:26 min/mi. Finished feeling a really nice workout in my glutes. Nothing felt strained or tight. 5.4 mi in 44:06.

45-50 mins easy;

A tour of Cambridge with the girls; 92 ft elevation gain; 5.51 miles in 50:07. I didn't sleep very well last night, but was pleasantly surprised how good my legs felt after last night's workout. Finished up with 45 mins PT/strength/core.

15 min w.u. 2 mile tempo, 2 mins rest, 800@10k pace, 3 mins rest 2 mile tempo 15 min c.d. Tempo between HMP - MP

Charles River loop

wu @ 8:57 min/mi

2 miles tempo in 7:35, 7:40

0.52 mi @ 6:53 min/mi pace

2 miles tempo @ 7:32, 7:31

cd @ 8:56 min/mi

4 miles of tempo were 7:34 min/mi AP; 8.41 mi in 1:09:00. I'm not sure what happened here. I think my glutes are deciding to fully join the party called running. The tempo felt relaxed, I could feel my glutes driving the work, I kept pulling back from 7:15 pace. I really think I ran the 800m faster than 10k pace. I'm not sure I could truly hold that pace for 6.2. The wu and cd were also faster than normal even though I felt like I was running so slow!! So, so happy about this run.

17 miles with middle 4 at MP effort;

Ringling Bridge Sarasota, FL; 64F 94% humidity, windy; 4 mile loop running up 50 ft bridge over 0.5 mile twice per loop. Total ascents=8 for at least 400ft elevation gain for run. MP miles started at mile 6 were: 8:00 (bridge, against wind), 7:47 (bridge, with wind), 7:54 (flat with wind), 7:54 (flat against wind). MP AP: 7:54 min/mi. I tried keeping the easy pace in the easier range, so I tried not looking at my watch and went by effort, so AP for 13 easy miles was 8:47 min/mi. My hip starting bothering me at times, but went away when I focused on form. Practiced leaning forward and "falling down" the downhills. AP for entire run: 8:38 min/mi. Had a nice massage later. :)

30-35 mins easy;

Robinsons Preserve Bradenton, FL; All on hard packed shell. Recovery runs are the best. Started super slow with very heavy fatigued legs, finished nice and bouncy. The breeze coming off the ocean was lovely and I could smell the thick, fresh salty air the entire run...Heavenly. Hip flexors were a little tight from yesterday and right calf slightly tight. 3.82 mi in 35:12, 9:12 min/mi AP

40-45 mins easy w 4-6x100m strides;

Charles River; 18F so cold! 4.36 miles easy at 8:45 min/mi AP then 6 strides at 5:29 min/mi AP. 5.13 miles total in 46:28

15 min w.u. 3-4 mile tempo, 3 mins rest 8 x 30 secs on, 1 min off 10 min c.d.

Treadmill at 1% incline; wu @ 6.4 mph (9:22 min/mi), 4 mi tempo at 7.8 mph (7:41 min/mi), ons at 9.8 mph (6:10 min/mi) offs at 6.4 mph (9:22 min/mi), cd at 6.5 mph (9:09 min/mi). 8.55 mi total in 1:10:38. I felt mentally tired going into this one. 7.8 mph for the tempo felt a little fast at first, but by mile 2 felt nice and relaxed. No pains, tightness in legs. 

Kinda worried about doing this workout before the 10k on Thursday! Oh well, big picture = Boston 2 Big Sur. Yesterday my massage therapist asked about my plans for Thanksgiving. I told her I was running a race, she was surprised people race on Thanksgiving. I said "it's only just over 6 miles". She laughed, "ONLY 6 miles??!!". This lady looks like she's in super human shape too, like a crossfitter. Sometimes we lose sight of our adaptations and progress. :)

25-30 mins easy with 4x100m strides

Chicago, IL; 18F; 2.24 easy miles at 8:56 min/mi AP then 4 strides AP 5:52 min/mi. Feeling pretty good - no pains/tightness, not dragging. 3.22 mi in 30:01

Highland Park, IL; 14 mph winds; 1.52 mi trying to warm up with 3x100m strides. Garmin measured the course in 6.45 mi for 47:42 (last year it measured 6.16mi and they added an extra out and back down a street this year). 1 mile cool down. I felt like I paced well and I finished with nothing left in the tank. My legs felt fatigued the entire race and the impact running seemed abnormally painful. Effort did not feel like a 7:41 min/mi pace according to how my tempos have felt. It felt much harder than 7:41 pace, so I was either not recovered, the wind was pretty significant, or the course was too long.

ADDENDUM!: I just rechecked the course map, the course marshalls had us take an extra out and back that was part of the 5k course, NOT the 10k course. So, the 10k ended up being 6.46 mi and my pace was 7:23 min/mi, which makes more sense to how the effort felt. I am happy now!

30-40 mins easy

Chicago, IL lakefront path northbound; AP 8:23 min/mi, 4.8 mi in 40:15. Feeling really good maybe because I was wearing new kicks! Thinking my shoes were worn out and that's why running felt so jarring earlier this week.