[S]he Conquers Who Endures

6 miles of recovery at 9:15 min/mi average pace. Not sure why, but my legs felt so brand new and fresh on this run!! After a faster than planned 21 miler this was so unexpected. I'm not sure how I recovered so quickly. I stretched a lot immediately after my long run Saturday, then was freezing cold to the core so had to take a warm epsom salt bath (figured the epsom added to the hot water would negate the terribleness of a warm bath after a long run), read on my iPhone during the bath that a warm epsom salt bath after a long run is pretty much the worse thing you can do, freaked out and got out, iced everything from my waist down for 20 mins (calves, hammies, knees, and glutes), then strapped on my recovery pants and vegged. I don't know, maybe the "contrast" from epsom bath to ice helped? Regardless, I'm so encouraged because I made it past the point in the schedule where I got injured this summer and I'm pain-free!!!

Got me some new Pegasus today to add to my list! I'm not OCD I swear! Okay, so the story is, I have a pair of Pegasus in FL and 2 pair in Chicago (shield and normal) since I travel so much and don't want to cart stinky running shoes around. I feel like the cushioning of the Shields are somewhat stiffer than the normal Pegasus (Shields are the gortex version) and I really don't like to do faster runs and long runs in the Shields because it feels like more pounding. Thus, I had to get another pair of normal Shields since I only have Shields in Cambridge. 

Okay, I feel better having explained myself...This was the longest midweek run of my entire 18 week schedule - 14 miles. Since it was the one and only 14 miles, naturally I had to kick that 14 miler midweek's butt! 7:45 min/mi average pace. Oh, and after watching the Disney marathon course video, I decided to alter my route to include more "bridges" so I'm prepared for the 2 overpasses in the marathon. So that's a 7:45 min/mi pace with 10 bridges!!! I didn't want to stop because I knew I'd get a rush of tightness and soreness, but it actually wasn't too bad. Although it may be a little faster than desired, I'm glad I did it to know how my body will feel if I try to pull that pace in the marathon!

Ahh...no tempo run this week, instead, an extra recovery day. I'm going to need it to reap these benefits!!! :) 

6 miles of recovery on the dreadmill thanks to the nor'easter (1% incline, 9:13 min/mi pace). Well, thank you, nor'easter really because I needed some zero technical terrain for this recovery run! My calves have been so, so tight from my super fast 14 miles the day before. I was starting to get pains in the bottoms of my feet and started worrying about the kiss of death, aka PF! I am so freaked out of my mind after much needed recovery runs. I go into them feeling like my legs are about to explode and come out feeling like they reached a zen point normally only obtainable by a really good massage therapist. WEIRD!! I'm not complaining! Stretched really, really well. Spent some extra time stretching my calves and feet different ways.

Notice today's theme: RECOVERY! :) 

AM Bikram. Ahhh, this felt sooo good. It's such a good gauge of recovery and muscle tightness! I was able to do the balance poses much better than last week and the pain at the top of my right hammie is subsiding thanks to my deep tissue last week. I came out feeling rejuvenating and gave myself a pat on the back for my impulse purchase of GRAPE flavored Nuun earlier this week. Cause, hey, you can't sweat out all your electrolytes in Bikram when you need them for much more important things in life - running!! :) 

PM 1.5 h deep tissue massage 

6 miles recovery with 6x100 m strides. I guess my watch decided to reverse charge again, boo!!! At least it was just a recovery run. Gotta get that sucker figured out because I will be crushed if that happens during the marathon!!

Ended up using mapmyrun with telly in hand. I was considering going by feel, but I don't trust myself and want to make sure I'm running a slow, recovery pace. 9:10 average pace minus strides. I'm not sure what my stride paces were. I think they were all below 6:00 min/mi pace because my current pace at the end of the stride was always around 5:35ish or less. I noticed towards the end of my stride repeats that my legs were stretching a lot more than I think they have ever stretched in my runs. It felt really, really good and I attribute that to dedicating more time to stretching. :)

I always so excited for my Saturday long runs! Haha. Tomorrow is 16 miles with 12 miles MP. I no longer feel intimidated to do these long runs with MP pace miles since I can hit faster than MP for that mileage in my midweek mid-long runs! :) 

16 mile long run with 12 marathon pace miles. This course is kinda cheating for the marathon pace miles because it's a 200 ft climb over the first 6 miles so that means the last 6 miles are a 200 ft decline. Oh well, if I look at my average pace I still can say I rocked this run! 7:57 average pace for 16 miles 7:48 pace for the marathon pace miles. This course isn't similar to Disney in any way, shape or form, but I think it still improves my running because of the up and down. I still have an 18 mile long run with 14 marathon pace miles in my schedule and my tickets are already booked to FL for that training run in December!! 

Pretty proud of myself today. It was kinda weird running with it being light out and being able to see in my peripheral after most of my runs in the last two weeks being in the dark.

Already iced my hammies and calves and looking forward to cut back week this week! :)