[S]he Conquers Who Endures

Easy 5 mile run along the St. Charles River. 8:47 min/mi AP. It's funny how one run can completely tear up your legs, then the next run resets all the aches and pains. Love it!

Schedule called for 35:00 to 40:00 threshold run. Naturally, I was targeting 40:00. My old partner in crime running friend in Chicago who is running the Shamrock 8k with me hit 4 miles at 6:54 min/mi pace. So naturally, I had to drop my pace to 6:53 min/mi pace. I started on the treadmill at 1% incline at 8:41 min/mi pace for 2.5 miles. Then, I was off at 6:53 min/mi pace. It was hard, but not as hard as I thought! I got 2 miles in, and tried to focus on just hitting a 5k. My fastest 5k is a 6:57 min/mi pace. I hit that! Then decided I just had to make it to 4 miles, I can't let my friend show me up! I hit 4 miles, then decided I just needed to get to hit 4.97 miles which would be my target race distance at my target pace! Hit it, 35:00 passed and I decided to stick with my original goal of 40:00, and I did!! 5.85 miles at sub 7 AP!! Yeah, it was the treadmill, so it will probably be harder outside, but I still have time and I'm sure I will race faster with my adrenaline going. 

I must say, it's true, sub 7 is just a number! This was hard, but not too hard. I think more than anything this pace is more of a mental challenge with me. Last year I entered sub 8 pace for a lot of my runs and by the end of the year I hit 20 miles sub 8. Many people stop there, I think because the number is so daunting. I don't want to stop there! After today's workout I think it is more realistic for me to commit to targeting a 1:30 half marathon in July!! 

12 mile run on the treadmill at 1% incline. I wanted to lay off the hills this week, so I decided to work on my stamina for this run, while staying slightly above my LT. 2 mile warmup at 8:41 min/mi pace, then 4 miles at a hopeful current MP (7:35 min/mi). Then reset the tm to go into my second round, and turned the last 4 miles into a progression run to finish at a hopeful current HMP increasing the speed 0.1 MPH (7:30, 7:24, 7:19, 7:14). Finished with 2 mile cool down at 8:27 min/mi pace in my A5s to practice getting used to them. AP for the 8 miles was 7:28 min/mi, a PR by far for me. 

I think this was a great workout for me. These paces have been no man's land for me because of running hills so much. It felt really good even though I had a strong effort yesterday and I'm happy to say I am finally sore in my muscles at the top of my quads!!! To me, that means my gait change is working (slight forward lean) and my hamstrings aren't being overly taxed. Finished up with some good stretching and pushups and planks since that's what all the fast kids do on here, and I want to be a fast kid too! :) 

AM: Nice and easy morning run. My muscles are a little sore from the last couple days, it feels really nice! The river was gorgeous and so was the weather, although I was a little bummed I couldn't find any marathon banners along the river - I heard they were put up yesterday, Boston runners get stoked! I tried to focus on my form in my new Kinvaras. Towards the end of the run I got into a good groove of forefoot/midfoot striking. My last mile was probably a little too fast (8:15) but I blame the shoes cause the effort wasn't there. AP 8:48 min/mi.

PM: 4 easy miles on the treadmill at 1% incline with 5x0.1 mile strides, 8:41 min/mi pace for the majority of the run. Strides were 6:00 min/mi pace. 8:41 min/mi pace felt so slow and I kept running into the handle bars. I was happy to hit the strides and stretch out my legs. Strides were really weird at first in these super light shoes, but when I felt more comfortable I realized it didn't feel so much like a 6:00 min/mi pace!!

Track workout on the treadmill (1% incline)!!! I have to miss track tonight because I'm flying to Chicago to see my fiance!!! My advisor okayed me to work Friday/Monday from Chi town. :) It was nice to not have anxiety all day for this workout (like every Thursday, hehe)! Workout called for 3-4x(1000m @ 5k pace + 600m at HMP) with 800m recovery. I hit 4 repeats and had gas left in the tank. The 1000m's were at 6:18 min/mi pace, the 600m's were at 7:18 min/mi pace. Neither of these times seem like realistic race paces for me just based on the number, but this workout honestly wasn't so bad. Maybe because the treadmill is easier? I was really surprised by the 600s, I thought I was recovering and caught myself a couple times from trying to go into the next repeat!! Haha. My 800m PR is a 6:19 min/mi pace (on track though) so that's pretty snazzy I beat that 4 times today at a longer distance. Oh and these lengths are super awkward on the tm, I had to print out a cheat sheet!! :)

Finished up with some PT/strength/core exercises, and made my modified gluten free recovery drink!!! Half a scoop of gluten free protein powder + 2 honey stingers = Endurox but gluten free. :) 

6 easy, wonderfully amazing miles in my old stomping ground - Chicago lakefront. It was pretty surreal to run the path again. I purposely left my ipod at home so I could truly soak it all in. I didn't pay too much attention to my pace, just went by effort and distance. It was lovely people watching and staring at the skyline and lake. Before I knew it, my recovery run was over, my legs have never felt better, and my watch claims I was averaging an 8:31 min/mi pace. Love the run.

18 mile long run on the Chicago lakefront with my old training partner! We were planning a more conservative pace (8:30s min/mi) and then planned on kicking it into her marathon pace (8:05s min/mi) for the last 8 or so miles. We got to chatting away like normal and didn't pay attention to the pace. We noticed a couple 7:45s splits, and tried to slow down the pace but apparently it was a comfortable pace for both of us. Heading back into the city we turned into the nasty, 15 MPH head wind for the last 6 or 7 miles. It felt like we were running 9:00s min/mi heading back, but somehow we maintained the same pace? I finished with AP of 7:53 min/mi for 18 miles. Shoot! I thought I needed to slow this long run down because my last 20 and 16 miler were around this pace and I thought I'm pushing too hard. I have no idea how we maintained this pace in such a strong head wind for so long. Once again, I'm glad for the wind, if I can't have hills to make me stronger, I'll take the wind resistance!!

After my run, I got the detailed results for my video gait analysis. She saw a lot of improvement on a few of my flaws from last summer. She pointed out some additional things I need to work on. I'm pretty excited about that because fixing those flaws will keep me injury free and probably will make me faster. The biggest thing is my heel strike. She did notice an improvement from a couple of weeks ago, but recommends I work into a more minimal shoe. Haha! Good thing I got the Kinvaras and Gridtype A5s!! I'm busting out my Brooks Pure Flow again. However, I just ordered more Pegs for the Big Sur. I'm really confused about what shoes to wear for that now! Hopefully I can work up my lower leg strength by then to wear the more minimal shoe for the marathon, and I think I should return the Pegs.