[S]he Conquers Who Endures

FL trail run dodging low hanging mangrove branches, tripping over fallen palm fronds, stomping through the marsh, and watching for gators. Fortunately, I still haven't seen any gators on this run...yet. Gotta sample some All Sport during my run. That's the official race drink of Steamtown so I'm trying to get used to it now. Wow, hello artificial additives! It's like old school kool-aide! AP: 9:12 min/mi.

FL run. Hot and humid! Easy 5 miler during cut back week. I feel like such a bum with this low mileage! Oh well. Just gotta approach this week as a practice taper. I gotta half marathon Sunday to race anyway. :) AP: 8:30 min/mi

Ah, back to the stifling, windy city! I woke up before 5 am so I could head to the burbs for a nice, faster 8 miler. My garmin has been reverse charging on me and after cleaning the contacts, upgrading the firmware, and waiting to get a 40% charge, I was headed up to the path. Ugh, got stuck in traffic because of my delay now I will be starting in the heat!! So much for waking up early! I made the most of it. I busted out a 8:02 min/mi AP! It was 96 F when I finished (through a forest preserve). I tried out some salt pills on this run. I felt pretty good besides my legs feeling heavy so I think they are good. :)

PM Crossfit

PreWOD: sumo deadlift 3x3x3x3x3, max: 115 lbs

WOD for time:

30-20-10

wall balls (14 lbs)

situps

then 1 mile run

time: 12:03

My mile run was 7:32!! Pretty impressive after all that leg work and the 103 F temp (according to the McDonalds sign)!!

It was not nearly as hot as it was yesterday! Ran a speed workout with a coach and group. We did 1.15 mile warmup, drills, then 12x400 m repeats. I guess I was a little sleepy because I was pushing the stop button on my watch instead of the lap button! Whoopsies! The first two repeats were averaged, then lost the third repeat. Woke up by the 4th repeat. :) My splits were: 6:39 (avg), ??, 6:25, 6:47, 6:26, 6:33, 6:24, 6:45, 6:29, 6:28, 6:08 min/mi. Total average was 6:31. The same as about a month ago when I did 9 repeats. No one was running my pace. I think I run faster on Tuesdays with the crew that pushes me. Lessons learned!! At least 6:08 was a training PR for me. :)

PM Crossfit 

warmup: 400 m run

PreWOD: 5x3x3 overhead squats max (53 lbs)

WOD: 12 min AMRAP

12 push press (45 lbs)

12 chest to bar pull ups (green band)

12 burpees

No. rounds: 5+12 

AM: weights. 3 sets of 12 of the following:

1. barbell squats 

2. dumbell incline press (30 lbs)

3. one-leg dumbbell russian deadlift (15 lbs)

4. pull downs (60 lbs)

5. dumbell stepup (30 lbs)

6. tri-pushdown (25 lbs)

7. back extension (40 lbs)

8. crunches 

PM: pseudo-tempo run.

1 mile warmup at 8:18 min/mi pace. Oh what a nice tail wind on the way out, gonna be tough on the way back. I was running with my tempo partner who was cleated in the ankle earlier in the week. We were going to run 6 miles tempo, but because of the pain in his ankle it was more like 1.5 mile repeats. Still a great workout. I felt so strong out AND BACK against the strong head wind. I think my body really liked this cutback week. Hopefully this run is just a glimpse of what I will do in my half marathon on Sunday! My paces were: 7:17/7:12/7:18/7:08/7:15/7:09 min/mi. AP: 7:13 min/mi. Faster than my 5k PR pace!! Last week's tempo was a 7:26 min/mi for 5 miles. I felt like I could have pulled these paces without the breaks. Plus I was wearing my water belt, so I'm pretty much a hot shot. I can't believe how far I've come in a few months. When I started doing tempos in March I went from high 8s to low 8s to finally going sub 8s, now I'm at low 7s and about to go sub 7s. This is crazy fun!!! :)

Bikram! Resting up for the half on Sunday...

Shake out run to keep loose. Mile warmup (8:21) then 3x0.1 mile strides (5:19/5:01/5:07 min/mi AP).