[S]he Conquers Who Endures

1.14 mi wu w 3 strides, 13.23 mi in 1:46:53 (1:47:25 (8:12 pace) official, not chip timed), 1.03 mi cd @ 9:50 min/mi pace. 15.4 mi total

20 mph winds, neg wind chill, flurries, gatorade ice chunks, and challenging hills. This race is dubbed one of the toughest half marathons in Illinois. Wind was worse than the hills. Legs felt dead the first 3 miles which was mostly downhill. My right hamstring felt really tight most of the race. My legs finally felt more in sync by mile 9 through the end. I was passing people the entire second half of the race. I finished feeling strong and my last mile was my fastest split (7:43). My goal was to go out at desired MP and see how it felt with the hills. I'm not sure how this would translate to Boston. The hills were worse than Boston and hopefully I won't be battling that much wind. I finished feeling like I could have sustained that pace for longer, but not for another 13.1.

30 mins easy

Crosstrained instead of ran. 30 mins easy on the bike. I feel okay - a little sore after yesterday, but very injury prone. Got the blood flowing and stretched a bit after. Legs felt a lot better after.

45-50 mins easy

6.6 mi @ 9:09 min/mi AP in 1:00:28

Chicago lakefront. My legs are sore and fatigued but I got in a groove and running just felt so nice and detached. I've finally learned to run without headphones and love listening to the birds chirping in the morning! Soon it will be listening to the waves IF the lake ever thaws. :) Did some light upper body and core work after.

15 min w.u. 3 mins, 2 mins, 1 min, 1 min, 2 mins, 3 mins fartlek with equal reovery. (Paces between mararthon-10k) 15 min c.d.

3 mins @ 6.7mph, 2 mins @ 6.9mph, 1 mins @ 7.2mph

ifit treadmill that's not calibrated.This workout felt great, a lot of fun and easy. I'm not sure what pace I actually ran things at, pretty sure my treadmill is off by ~1:00 min/mi. I probably could not have done a harder workout. My muscles are still a little tight from the half on Sunday. Finished up with strength work on my legs and core. Lunges seemed to loosen up muscles in the glutes nicely. My quads are bulging.

50-55 mins easy

6.83 mi @ 8:49 min/mi AP in 1:00:15

Chicago lakefront path. I had back spasms on the right side of my back all night so had poor sleep. I eased into the run and everything calmed down. Adductors were sore and tight from strength yesterday. Running through large snowflakes never gets old even on the first day of Spring! Finished up with some upper body strength and core work.

35-40 mins easy

4.4 mi @ 9:07 min/mi AP in 40:08

Chicago lakefront path. Holy adductors - so sore and tight from strength work on Wednesday. At least my hamstrings feel like a million bucks after my massage yesterday.

20-22 miles easy

20.09 mi @ 9:18 min/mi AP in 3:06:52

Northern Chicago suburbs craptastic run. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. I went into the run with lingering soreness in my adductors from Wednesday's strength workout - really? Wearing all my fuel didn't help. I hit up a really nice path, only to find out there were sections of really deep snow and ice every quarter mile. My energy plummeted around mile 9 or 10. Not sure how much is because of recovery from last week's half and the last 3 weeks of running long runs on hills. I wanted to hit 22 miles, but was worried about injury and had the pressure of getting the car back on time. Later in the day through Sunday I thought I had strained my quad again. Just gonna remember the good runs and be grateful to get in a craptastic run before the marathon (and hopefully not on marathon day). In hindsight, 20 miles of crappy running never felt easier! I think I'm mentally ready for the distance now. :)