This week, I ran 41 miles.

+ 4 core workouts.

+ 1 strength workout.

This was the first week in awhile when I felt like my brain and my body were working on the same thing. The workouts are starting to come together and I feel like the power is coming back. The left hip hasn’t been giving me any problems since I worked it out last week and I have a massage scheduled to take care of that sucker. I’m glad the pieces are starting to come together, considering Grand Rapids is 10 weeks away. Still a lot of work to do and a lot of miles to run to get to where I want to be!

There’s another big reason for me to be happy this week. On Friday afternoon, a Nuun employee called to ask me if I’d be willing to switch teams for Hood to Coast. Nuun has three teams for the relay: Team Lemonade, Team Watermelon, and Team Cherry Limeade. I found out that I was chosen for Team Lemonade just a few days after Boston, when I really needed some good news. Since then, I’ve been looking forward to the relay, my first! I’ve been chatting with my teammates on Twitter and on our own blogs (mostly to figure out what we’re all planning on packing haha). I’m sure by the time we get there (NINE DAYS FROM NOW!!!) that we’re going to feel like we’ve been friends for awhile. Unfortunately, injury is keeping one of the Cherry Limeade girls from running the relay and Nuun asked me to fill in for her.  The team is Nuun’s competitive women’s team with some crazy awesome goals. Needless to say, I’m still having a bit of a “pinch me moment”. I’m looking forward to experiencing my first relay with runners that I can learn a lot from. I’m excited, nervous, and thrilled about the opportunity! Nice lil’ treat in the middle of marathon training. 🙂 [If you want to follow the Nuun teams at Hood to Coast, we’ll be using #NuunHTC the entire weekend…at least when we have service. :)]

Monday:

5. 44 miles, 8:11 pace. Here comes the rain again, fallin’ on my head like a memory, falling on my head like a new emotion. Today’s easy run is brought to you by light rain and some Annie Lennox goodness.

Heh. I raced the rain on this one. Nice sprinkle for the last two miles and the storm really started when I was just a few blocks from home. Even though we’ve had plenty of storms this summer, I’ve never managed to actually run in one. Felt great! The downpour ended 10 minutes after I returned home so it was just meant to be today. (+ core & cooldown routines)

Tuesday:

7.12 miles, 7:21 average. Ran 2.12 w/up, 4 miles tempo (6:45-6:55) and 1 mi c/d.

Tempo splits were 6:50, 6:44, 6:44, & 6:44. How’s that for consistency?! This felt awesome—awesome, but difficult. Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable takes a lot of work. I’m sure this is the first of many workouts that end up surprising me this cycle. I was really happy to hit those splits and start my day on a good note.

Wednesday:

REST Day! 6 week 6 pack Jillian Michaels’ DVD – LEVEL 2 YO!! Puddle o’ sweat. There doesn’t seem to be a huge difference between Level 1 and Level 2 but the sweat pouring off of me after this workout might prove otherwise.

Thursday:

9 miles, 7:56 average. Easy 9 miles on the lakefront this morning with 8 x 30 sec surges just to work on turnover. The lakefront was beautiful this morning, even with a strong crosswind. Big crashing waves were entertaining. I haven’t run in the Saucony Fastwitch since February or March. & I forgot how much I like them!

Friday:

4.53 miles, 7:56 average. This was a happy, easy run. After the awesome Nuun Hood to Coast news I received that afternoon, all I wanted to do was lace up my shoes and head out for a run. I’m still having a bit of a “pinch me moment”.

Saturday:

15 miles, 7:46 average pace. 

Legs were ready to GO this morning. Started around 6:30 and debated my route during the ‘warm-up’ to the lakefront. I didn’t check to see when the ZOOMA races were starting but took a chance on heading north. Wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be. On the way back south, I fell into pace with the runners racing the half (got a little carried away for a few miles and ran a bit faster than I was supposed to). Wendy J of CARA had a massive 2+ min 10k lead and I was able to cheer for Annabelle TWICE during her half. Then I surprised Hillary at the water fountain before tempo-ing the last 3 miles of my run. (splits: 6:58, 7:05, 7:02) Heat started to get to me with 2 miles to go but gutted it out. I’m so ashamed of the side-5 with Hillary with a half mile to go—I should get points taken away for it. The legs had all kinds of energy today and I’m happy with how they feel at this point in the cycle!

Highlights o’ The Week:

• (THIS IS FOR YOU RACHEL!!!) Added to my running playlist: Believer by American Authors, Royals by Lorde, Everything Moves by Bronze Radio Return.
• Managed to read the Runners World and Running Times issues that have been piling up. I finished last month’s Runners World issue on Tuesday night, one week after receiving this month’s issue in the mail. Derp!
• Dinner at Carriage House— highly recommend! Crab soup; Mushrooms and Truffle Grits; pork boudin balls, & the hangar steak. ALL DELICIOUS!
• If you want to experience a little slice of heaven in Chicago, you need to check out Parson’s Chicken and Fish. It opened a few months ago but I finally got around to actually going (mostly to enjoy a Negroni Slushy…) Another perk: ping pong table and a ton of hipster goodness.

Pics o’ The Week:

Had to stop during Thursday’s cooldown to take a picture of the view. It never gets old!

Dinner at Carriage House.

I showered, put my feet up, and couldn’t get off the floor. 🙂

– J