This week was probably the highest quality and happiest training week of this cycle so far. This is 100% due to the weather shift of *somewhat* warm temps and sunshine on the lakefront. It’s so refreshing to wear one less layer of clothing and actually be able to feel your face at the end of a workout. It’s the little things, ya know? I think I’ve made some progress recently and I’ve been able to string together a few good weeks of training. The confidence boost of completing the first 20-miler of the cycle was nice too.

I ran 47 miles this week: 5 runs, 2 hrs yoga, and 1 x core routine. (Must focus more on core & strength in the coming weeks !)

The Miles:

Monday: 6 recovery, 8:06 pace + core routine

Shakeout on the TM after work. A full rest day yesterday felt great. Both calves a bit sore, assuming because of the hills on Saturday’s 20.

Tuesday: {1200 repeats} 10.27 miles, 7:00 pace

The sun was out and the path was clear and I ran fast and I was happy. Rave run, for sure.

This is what you call a runner’s high. #excusetheselfie

Ran 2 mi w/up, 3 x (2 x 1200 @ 5k pace) with 2 min RI and 4 min RI between sets, and 2 mi c/down. I’m really happy with how these went. The first set felt pretty tough, the middle set felt like I was crawling, and somehow I magically had more of a spring in my step on the third and final set.

Splits: 4:46, 4:44, 4:43, 4:39, 4:41, 4:44 (6:13-6:21 pace)

Wednesday: Cross-train- 1 hr yoga at home

Also, my funny relationship with Chicago’s NBC weatherman continues….

(I started my day with approximately 1.7 paczkis from Glazed and Infused. Donuts are part of my training program at this point.)

Thursday: {3 x 2 mi at HMP} 10.98 miles, 7:02 average pace.

Another rave run! 30 degrees out and sunny and clear and beautiful and SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS (not really, but that’s what it felt like)! Ran 2 mi up, 3 x 2 miles at HMP-ish with 800m RI, 1.5 mi down. Had a tough time getting into a flow with the pace but pretty psyched about the workout. I think I ran this a bit too fast (because 6:40-6:45 pace is like “*dream* HMP” ha!) but it’s a good gauge before NYC.

Splits: 6:44, 6:38/ 6:40, 6:44/ 6:36, 6:42

I’ve pretty much decided that this shirt has magic powers. Anyone else think so too?

Pure magic.

Thursday night was bittersweet. Timayyyyyyy is moving to NYC so we stuffed our faces with pizza and beer (we’re good at it). It feels like less of a goodbye and more of a ‘see ya later’ because he’ll be there to cheer next weekend at the NYC Half! New York better be ready for his mad vuvuzela skillz.

Friday: Cross (1 hr yoga with Corey!) + Shakeout 5 miles, 7:40 pace

Yoga: Corey asked me to go to yoga with her this week because she had a free pass for a friend.

Run: 46 degrees, partly cloudy and light wind. Annnnnnd this was the first easy run of this cycle that I’ve actually been able to do around my neighborhood, instead of the lakefront or the treadmill. Ice has melted on the sidewalks so I jumped in all of the puddles.

Saturday: Complete REST & Recovery

Sunday: 15 miles with fast finish, 7:15 average pace.

This weekend was definitely atypical. Decided to push my long run to today after seeing tweets about the wind on Saturday morning (and a rest day sounded lovely, to be honest). Then, I had good intentions of running early this morning, but some quality time with the Man for brunch and tea won out. He’s on a shifted schedule, so I would have only been able to spend about an hour with him if I ran in the morning.

I didn’t even get to the lakefront until 2:30, but was really happy to run in warmish temps and light wind. I wore capris and jumped in some puddles. (The expected high was 50-something degrees, but it actually didn’t even get up to 40 degrees while I was running. Just perfect for capris. Shorts would have been ….cold.) The wind was pretty annoying heading south — a headwind with a swirly crosswind for 6.5 miles. But THEN, when I turned back north, it was smoooooth sailing. The legs had a lot of pep today.  The left calf is a bit tight so I stopped to stretch it twice just to loosen it up a bit. Not too worried about that one, especially with a PT appt on Monday morning.

I ran the last 3 miles at sub 7-pace and felt freaking *fantastic*: 6:58, 6:56, 6:44.

(Also, my Garmin clocked mile 12 at 5:18. Yeah, that’s impossible. So the overall pace might be slightly slower. Derp!)

Thoughts:

I’m really happy with this week’s training. I put in a lot of quality work and the legs weren’t exhausted during the long run (quite the opposite actually). It’s funny how 15 miles feels like a stepback week now.

I don’t have a concrete plan for the NYC Half yet, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped thinking about it for the last few days. 🙂 My half PR seems sadly slow now (1:33:51). I know that I’m capable of blowing that time away but the priority is on Boston. I know that I won’t race it all out because that’s just asking for trouble, but I think a PR is possible while still being conservative. We shall see!

I basically have one quality workout this week before the New York Half next Sunday! Ahhhhhh! And check out this forecast for the race!

I’ve been really good about foam rolling, stretching, and using the Roll Recovery lately. I’ve been going to a weekly PT appointment for Graston and ART, so I know that’s helping to keep injury at bay too. But it just so happened that my PT was on vacation this week so I didn’t go to my normal appointment. And I’m happy to report I didn’t break! Haha, in all seriousness, I think I can space these appointments out more. If anything, I’m being super cautious because I’m just nervous. But SIX MORE WEEKS remain between here and the Boston start line. It’s insane to think that we’re already that close. Just a few more weeks of really good work before taperrrrrr.

-J