[S]he Conquers Who Endures

Slow recovery run in downtown Chicago in the snow with my yak trax!! Sometimes the snow flakes were attacking me, sometimes I was chasing them. All-in-all a gorgeous, fun run!

10 min warmup, 4x(5:00 @ 7:24 min/mi, 2:00 @ 9:03 min/mi), ~1.5 mile cool down at 8:54 min/mi. All at 2% incline (thanks, Maxfli!). My first sub 8 pace since the marathon!!! It was a little tough but not too bad. It felt good to hit these paces again!!

8 miles from Cambridge to Commonwealth Ave in Beantown heading to Newton Hills! Ugh, I feel like such a slow poke, but this is my first week of training after taking a break following the Disney Marathon. I've also never really run too much of real hills, so hopefully this is just making me a stronger runner. It's very humbling to say the least! AP: 8:22 min/mi with 224 ft elevation gain. The last mile was flat and I hit it at 7:48, so maybe that is a testament to how hard the hills are?

I'm super excited for Saturday's long run. I'll finally run with the Cambridge running group. They are running and out and back mile 23 of the Boston Marathon to 13. :) Gonna finally get some real Newton Hill mileage on these virgin legs!!! 

Beautiful recovery run in the fresh powder. Super slow, but the footing was pretty slippery and I was pretty scared I'd break a hip. AP 10:05 min/mi!!! 

Indoor track workout with running group. Workout was supposed to be: 5-8x1000m at 5k race pace. Naturally I was targeting 8 repeats...typical. I lined up with the girls who target a 6:37 min/mi 5k pace. There I was, keeping up with the girls I normally keep up with or am a little faster than. First repeat was kinda tough, but I really am just going by their pace, I'm not sure what that is during the workout. Second repeat, felt ok. After the third repeat, a couple girls mentioned how fast I was running so soon after my marathon. Fourth repeat I tanked. I guess I realized my body didn't feel "normal" on these repeats.

I started running in 2009 and I feel like I still don't have a good handle on what I'm doing. My old running group weren't serious runners so there wasn't a lot to learn from them. Up to this point I'm mostly self taught (apart from what I'm learning on this blog). Now I have a coach though, so I asked him if I'm pushing too hard too soon. He said just listen to your body. I felt kinda bummed doing the minimum workout (5 repeats), with the last two at a much slower pace. I am glad I listed to my body though. In hindsight, what was I thinking after a marathon, flu, 2 weeks off and 1 week at recovery pace? Of course I'm not at the same speed I was when I was peaking.

I didn't even bother looking at my splits when I get home like I normally do. My splits were: 4:03.1, 4:04.6, 4:05.6, 4:12.5, 4:16 which were 6:31, 6:34, 6:35, 6:47, 6:51 min/mi pace which ended up being an average pace of 6:39 min/mi! Haha! not a PR, but very close to the pace I was targeting! I didn't even think about the fact that those girls were improving while I was recovering. Still not excited about how my legs felt, but pretty stoked I was staying under 7:00 min/mi pace at the end when I thought I was running closer to 7:30/8. :)

Recovery run before getting slammed by Nemo!!! Ran with a friend for a change. 9:17 min/mi AP. Solid, fun times with a friend and stuck my recovery pace. Finished up with a dash to Whole Foods to get stocked up on healthy food (I haven't had fish in so long)!! Then put in some time pumping iron to get these legs hill ready. 

Slow run during Nemo!!! It was so beautiful! The pace was slow since my group shifted the long run to tomorrow morning. But then I found out when I got home the long run tomorrow is cancelled! :( Oh well, I will get it in on my own. The footing was pretty terrible to run 15 miles today anyway. :)