[S]he Conquers Who Endures

16 miles. Started in Central Park, NY, ended on treadmill. I didn't realize Central Park would be so hilly (compared to what I'm used to). My run Saturday was more hilly than normal as well. Around mile 6, my knee started pinching on the inside - the same injury that sidelined me for a month this summer. I gave it until mile 8 then decided to find a treadmill somewhere and finish the run there. This is taper and my long run should not be this hard. Run in Central Park was 8:03 min/mi pace and total average with treadmill was 8:12 min/mi pace...finished strong. Hoping I didn't "cop out" by quitting and going to the treadmill. It's tough figuring out the right decision when taper madness is fogging up your brain!

Rest day...active recover walking around NYC. :) Happy New Year's Eve!

I bought these new blue Pegasus for my marathon. But ending up buying a red pair that was just posted on Nike the other day. Kind of glad I did because these blue ones feel pretty stiff...and I am kinda a Pegasus expert. ;)

Also glad I stopped my run Sunday and hit the treadmill because of knee pain. I could tell my knee wasn't 100% at the beginning of the run. It was very tight but loosened up towards the end. I think I may have skated by an re-injury!

Running is getting tough for me. My mind is telling me some pretty crazy things that my legs seem to disagree with. Why do I feel like such a slow poke now when I just ran a 5k at 6:57min/mi average pace?! It makes it even tougher when now we have ice on the ground in Boston/Cambridge. I want to run my steady state runs and sprints outside but it's completely too dangerous. I started today's run outside and finished once again on the treadmill. I slipped on the ice and thankfully was able to grab a handrail before crashing to the ground. Now I'm getting terrified to run! Maybe the ice is at least forcing me to slow down. Ran 5.9 miles at 7:30 min/mi average pace outside. What? While did I feel like I was slow? I even slowed for the ice! Finished on the treadmill with 8x0.1 mile strides at maxed out treadmill (10 MPH/6:00 min/mi) with 1% incline. The strides were surprisingly easy. Every time I looked down I only had like 0.01 or 0.02 left to the end of the stride. Yet I still feel slow. I know this is taper madness but it's still perplexing me! Happy New Year. T minus 12 days and 7 runs left until marathon!

Bikram active recovery, and my birthday! Dangit, no running on my birthday!!! T minus 11 days until marathon!

Track workout. WU then 3x1 mile at 5k race pace with 0.5 mile recovery and CD. It's soooo cold out in Cambridge in the teens! And the roadways were icy so I was loving running on the indoor track, I felt so spoiled!! This is the toughest workout mentally in my schedule, and my last trackwork for the marathon. I just went with the fast girls and tried to hang, terrified it would be tough to keep up with them as usual. Well, it wasn't!! My splits were: 6:41.8, 6:42.5, 6:36.8!! All 3 repeats beat my previous PR of 6:48 that I hit this summer. They actually felt pretty relaxed. I could have pushed harder but I kept thinking it's better safe than sorry for Disney. This workout felt really, really good. :)

3.7 miles at recovery pace, 8:58 min/mi. A little faster recovery pace than what I have been targeting this round of training. I guess that means my legs are bouncing back finally. I honestly kept pulling down my pace every time I looked at my watch. Headed indoors to the treadmill to finish with 6x0.1 mile strides at 1% incline, 10 MPH/6:00 min/mi pace (the ice is still out and I don't want to chance slipping). It felt good to stretch my legs. T minus 9 days until marathon and only 5 runs left!!!