yoga

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #1

- Mel

The training for my Gasparilla races started this week! I signed up for the Michelob Ultra Challenge, which consists of 30+ miles over two days in Tampa, Florida in February — a 15K and 5K on Saturday of race weekend and then on Sunday, a Half Marathon and 8K. I’ve obviously never trained for a race quite like this, and the swag is supposed to be ridiculous. My focus is on the half marathon, for which I’m adapting the Novice 2 Hal Higdon training schedule. An aside: I strongly dislike the Higdon app and keep a paper with my dates tacked to the wall like total old school. Anyone else feel the same way?

Because I do plenty of cardio and cross-training (and that will increase exponentially with derby practices), I’m cutting out the extraneous mid-week 3 mile run. I’m focusing on three runs per week — with one long run, a weekly regular 3-mile run and one additional mid-week run that spans from 2-3 miles throughout the 12-week program, and at least two cross-training sessions.

Week #1 of this plan calls for three 3-mile runs and one 4-mile run, with one day of cross and two rest days. I personally like two-a-days with another rest day, which is another way that I’ve adapted my training schedule. It worked well for my previous half and full marathon training plans. I haven’t decided yet if I intend to PR this race or not… but I still have a little bit of time to figure that out.

MONDAY: An hour of spinning at the Y. (Walked to work)

TUESDAY: REST DAY (Walked to/from work)

WEDNESDAY: 3 miles with run//yoga//run club (just less than 10-minute pace), followed by a hard, sweaty 75 minutes of hot flow yoga. While I didn’t have any abnormally-long coughing fits, I found myself struggling to move with my breath. We did a bunch of hip openers and core work which felt amazing. My legs, though, felt super sloggy during the run. Meh. (I also walked to work today.)

THURSDAY: REST DAY (Walked to/from work)

FRIDAY: REST DAY (Walked home from work)

Long winter shadows.
Long winter shadows.

SATURDAY: 4.02 miles – holy moly, my legs felt so fast today. I had my first sub-8 mile! I followed my run up with 3 sets of 60-second planks (and a very long, steamy shower).

SUNDAY: Stairs workout at The Cathedral of Learning, my first off-skates workout with my NEW TEAM, The Allegheny Avengers! I should say my new old team, as I was one of the home team’s inaugural members two seasons ago — but I got drafted back on this week now that I’m officially-official back playing roller derby. We did 10 minutes of interval climbs and then a 10-minute body weight circuit (crunches, planks, lunges, squats and push-ups). I hoped to run a couple miles after this workout, but my legs were toast!

This upcoming training week will be tough to schedule around all these holiday parties during the week, but my goal is for two runs and two other workouts.

TOTAL RUNS: 2
TOTAL MILES: 7.02

Accountability Monday: 11/9-11/15

- Mel

Finally getting back into the groove of a workout schedule, which will change again this week when I return to roller derby league practices (tonight!). If CrossFit is going back into my weekly schedule, then I’m probably looking at early mornings again. My training for the Gasparilla half (and additional race distance nonsense) doesn’t start for a couple more weeks.

I walked to work every day this week, and walked home 2 out of 5 days.

MONDAY: One-hour spin class at the Y, then did a few sets of 60-second plank holds.

TUESDAY: Had happy hour plans after work.

WEDNESDAY: Ran 3 miles at 10:29 pace with run//yoga//run club followed by 75 minutes of hot yoga — GOOD TO BE BACK! I realized that it’s been three weeks since I’ve done yoga and my body definitely needed it.

Running in the dark now (at 6pm, BOO!) with run//yoga//run club.
Running in the dark now (at 6pm, BOO!) with run//yoga//run club.

THURSDAY: More happy hour plans after work, with different friends.

FRIDAY: We had a friend’s birthday party in the evening. I did have a workout scheduled, but skipped it.

SATURDAY: Went to Romp n’ Roll for an hour-and-a-half of roller skating! I CAN STILL SKATE! Although I’ve noticed that my left leg has lost a lot of strength and struggled with left leg-dominated stops. I’m still awkward-AF with my reverse direction crossovers too. I did a few more of those 60-second plank holds too.

SUNDAY: GO BROWNS! Tailgating is a workout, right? 😉

Training Week 17 — and (quickie) September Wrap-up

- Mel

This is it. The hard work is done, and I am officially in my taper (hashtag, taper madness). I’ll certainly do a reflection post on my training later on but right now? I’m exhausted.

taper_img

MONDAY Rest Day

TUESDAY Had a grad school open house after work, so another Rest Day (and I am seriously on, like, four snooze alarms in the morning now. Sigh). I realize that I need to bring a set of workout clothes, my yoga mat, and a pair of running shoes back to my office. At some point, I took everything home and never brought my workout gear back; there have been so many times that I’m sitting at work, stressed, and totally want NEED to run it out.

WEDNESDAY Again, plans after work, so another Rest Day (I realize that this is too many in one week, especially in days off in a row after the Akron Relay. Feeling disappointed in myself, my training, and super antsy about not making this more of a priority). So my Thursday run was rough…

THURSDAY 3.96 miles with some speed bursts — It was fun to play Dodge the Drunk as Steelers fans encroached upon the North Shore though. There are always those idiots who have no idea how to move over when you call your path to the left (or worse, those who step right in front of you). I’m not ashamed to say that I put my shoulder in a guy when he stepped in my way, and I refused to break stride.

But my body did not feel good. At all. My shins were bothering me, and I was super stiff with heavy legs and my foot felt like it was attached crooked (??). I guess I needed a better warm-up, since Miles 3 and 4 felt much better. Mentally though, I had to talk myself into that last mile. I did a lot of stretching when I was done.

Splits: 10:26 (1)/ 10:04 (2)/ 9:52 (3)/ 10:04 (4)

FRIDAY Sick day from work, so I needed to rest and work this out of my system. I guess I’m not surprised at this point that my body’s immunity is being tested.

SATURDAY I’m always nervous about running the day before a long run, so after my massage, I did a half hour of strength-based yoga for runners at home (since I missed my weekly yoga night on Wednesday) and did SO much stretching.

ETA: I nearly forgot! I went for a 60-minute sports massage in the morning. She helped me stretch, which felt amazing. I’ve been having a lot of tightness in my piriformis, and she spent a good bulk of the massage time on my legs and glutes. Next month, I’m doing a 90-minute FOR SURE.

SUNDAY Long run — 20 MILES (and the Penguins/Lemiuex 6.6k race). I was freaking out about this run, especially since I missed a 18-mile run in my training. I was allowing myself to get *as close as possible* to that 20. But once I was close to 18, I needed to keep running. And then needed to get past 19. Because my GPS wouldn’t connect at the start of the training run, I knew that I had to add about .75 to my total mileage.

If you want to know what kind of person I am: I needed to see 20 miles on my watch, so I kept running beyond my actual 20 just to get the pleasure of seeing that number. Those last three miles were slow and felt terrible BUT I RAN TWENTY FREAKING MILES. Actually, 20.76 (Total time: 3:37:39).

Splits: 10:02 (1)/ 10:14 (2)/ 10:14 (3)/ 10:01 (4)/ 11:01 (5)/ 13:30 (6)/ 9:09 (7)/ 9:35 (8)/ 9:42 (9)/ 14:20 (10)/ 10:38 (11)/ 10:28 (12)/ 10:10 (13)/ 10:36 (14)/ 10:21 (15)/ 10:52 (16)/ 11:04 (17)/ 11:35 (18)/ 11:58 (19)/ 11:45 (20)

Some of those splits are outliers because I forgot to pause my watch walking up to the start line of the 6.6k race (and, again, afterward when I finished and walked back to where I was meeting the group), and I obviously ran the race WAY TOO FAST. But… eh. I slowed WAY down on those last three miles by myself (and I was really starting to hurt everywhere). I need to trust that I can run the bulk of my race at an average 10:15 pace though, slowing to an 11:00 for that last portion. I think I can, I think I can… finish less than 5 hours?

And, yes — LOTS of stretching and moving around after this run! (And I ate, like, 8 meals.)

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 24.72 miles
Total training miles: 233.89 miles

SEPTEMBER NUMBERS
Total runs: 10
Total miles: 66.55 miles
Increase: 5.89 miles over August

Training Weeks 14 and 15: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

I have no reason to split out Week 14 since… well, my only run was the Movie Madness Half Marathon. Every other day I was hit by a major struggle bus. I don’t know if that’s a typical point where wannabe-marathoners feel super exhausted and like everything is impossible, but I feel those things.

So, Week 14 — total runs: 1; total miles: 13.1 (those were 13.1 GOOD miles though!)

Week 15
MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: Didn’t realize that my afternoon meeting was scheduled through 6pm (and I had to walk home), so unfortunately, my scheduled run didn’t happen. I probably could have done a quickie workout at home, but I was so exhausted from traveling over the weekend (and again all the way to the North Hills for a dinner party Monday night) that I fell asleep early. The boyfriend said he pulled my iPad out of my hands and I didn’t even move.

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga//run club with Urban Elements. Tonight we did just shy of 4 miles. No splits. Followed up with some really powerful hot yoga. Body felt pretty good and yoga felt strong.

THURSDAY: Rest Day

FRIDAY: Today was National Run @ Work Day, so I took advantage of the group run that Steel City Road Runners was hosting from Point Park. It was hot, and I was sweaty (for a long time after the run too). But I befriended a couple guys for the five-mile loop, and they kept me motivated to finish at a quicker pace than I anticipated my body would do in the mid-afternoon. It felt good. I might make that part of my work-week schedule (I purchased some scented body sprays this weekend to stash at my desk too).

5.06 miles at average 9:42 pace. Splits: 10:02 / 10:16 / 10:30 / 7:50 (??) / 9:58

SATURDAY: Recovery Day with a massage and facial (and a little retail therapy at the mall).

SUNDAY: I was so glad that I saw someone post a group run from downtown in the SCRR group. While I wasn’t doing the full 20-mile Bridges of Pittsburgh course, I knew that I needed some running camaraderie to get in my 16. I seriously lucked out with this group, who all shared great marathon and training advice — and their own long-run courses and schedules. I’ve been looking for a “tribe” so to speak to keep my training in check, and they really made me feel welcome. I never needed my headphones, and I was able to converse throughout the run. I think I got 12 of the 14 total bridges (I also crossed the 10th Street Bridge off my list!).

Side note: I woke up SUPER early for this run: 4:45am. It was still dark out when I left the house around 6:15, and I had a scary almost-incident with some guy yelling after me in the park by my house. I freaked out (honestly, I was truly scared) and my fight-or-flight response took me quickly back to the house, where I locked up and set the alarm and sat still in the bathroom for 10 minutes. Anyway, I waited for the skies to lighten up a bit (and more signs of life to appear) before I set out to meet the group at the West End Bridge at 7:05 — just in time for the perfect sunrise over Pittsburgh.

IMG_1687

I would never have paced this fast if I was alone, but it was really cool to see that my body was totally capable of handling it (until I got a side stitch at Mile 10). I split off from the group at Mile 13 to take the North Shore Trail back home. After showering, I immediately napped for nearly two hours. I felt really, really sore for the remainder of the afternoon (and hungry!), so I spent half an episode of America’s Next Top Model (ha!) stretching and rolling my feet.

16.01 miles at average 10:20 pace (total time: 2:45:21). Splits: 11:12 (1) / 10:52 (2) / 10:24 (3) / 10:18 (4) / 10:05 (5) / 9:53 (6) / 10:04 (7) / 10:28 (8) / 10:48 (9) / 11:07 (10) / 10:13 (11) / 8:27 (wut 12) / 10:28 (13) / 10:16 (14) / 9:58 (15) / 10:43 (16)

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 25.02 miles
Total training miles: 191.74 miles

Training Week 13: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

It’s another drop-back week in my training plan and THANK GOD because the Demons of Summer Humidity have returned with this awful weather and really wrecked my training week. My mid-week 4-mile run felt terrible, and I felt even worse the day after (soreness that I didn’t even experience after running 14 miles, which I cannot figure out).

MONDAY: Usual Rest Day/Laundry Day.

TUESDAY: Took another rest day.

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club – 4 miles started off at a 9:30 pace, but I started trailing behind the group at 2 miles in. I decided to turn around before my companions and slow it up a bit. That was a good decision, since that group ended up with about 4.8 miles. And OMG the heat and humidity. UGH.

Yoga felt better than last week. I really focused on stretching out my hamstrings and hips throughout the practice. I felt really strong in my warrior and crescent poses — been far too long.

4.15 miles, average pace: 9:36/mi, total time: 39:53 (no splits)

THURSDAY: My body felt like absolute shit. I’m so frustrated.

FRIDAY: I had to spend another night stretching. I wish I would have rolled too. This is something that I’ve completely let fall to the wayside but this week convinced me how badly my body needs more care.

SATURDAY: Yoga outside! These park sessions through Yoga Hive will be held every Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. (The date on the Fittsburgh website says it ends on August 29 but the instructor confirmed through weekends in October.) The weekends when I’m in town I plan to make this part of my Saturday morning routine. Drop-in rate is only a $5 donation too.

SUNDAY: Any previously-denoted “bad” run that I’ve ever talked about is now one-upped by the run I had this Sunday. I planned to meet the boyfriend after he golfed so I could enjoy a little pool time; since our club is only about 6.5 miles away and my plan called for 10, I figured I could commute there by my legs. Seemed like a good challenge. Until you realize that once you cross the West End Bridge, it’s all uphill to Crafton. ALL. UPHILL. All uphill without a lot of sidewalks. And then uphill some more.

To be honest, I’m surprised that it didn’t take me longer to do those 6.83 miles. Also a big fail that Google Maps kept crashing so I kept getting lost. At a certain point I realized that I was one street over from where I needed to be but it may as well have been 3 miles. And I still had to go uphill to get to the club entrance.

Being in the pool after that hot mess felt amazing though both in cooling my body off and getting my joints moving in the water. And I got to show off my hawt running shorts tan.

6.83 miles, total time: 1:29:02
Splits: 10:59 (1) / 12:13 (2) / 12:59 (3) / 10:51 (4) / 16:12 (5) / 12:38 (6) / 13:12 (.82)

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 10.98 miles
Total training miles: 153.62 miles

Only a couple more days of this insanely hot and humid weather. Then, good riddance dog days!

Training Week 12: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

Nothing like a good half marathon race to put your running spirits on overdrive! I had to force my brain (and my body) to rest on Monday.

MONDAY: LAUNDRY DAY! aka: Rest Day. Seriously though, I go through an ungodly amount of clothing in the summer.

TUESDAY: My plan called for a Fast Finish workout (4.5 easy and 1.5 moderately hard), but I was more in that mood where I wanted to see what my body could do. Surprisingly, I was able to sustain a fairly fast pace at Mile 3 (once I was warmed up). And though it was a cooler evening, the humidity still was pretty unbearable (hello, elbow sweat). Followed up with about 20 minutes of foam rolling.

5.10 miles, average 9:40/mi pace. Splits: 9:27 (1) / 10:02 (2) / 8:10 (3) / 10:45 (4) / 10:03 (5)

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club night!

3.00 miles, average 10:10/mi pace. No splits. I struggled with this yoga session a lot and my hips were so tight. I frequently felt “stuck” in poses, especially warrior. My legs eventually gave up.

THURSDAY: Rest day. Originally planned to do the Elevation Challenge with True Runner, but other plans took priority.

FRIDAY: Rest day

SATURDAY: 14 miles!!! Yep, my furthest training run. I honestly cannot believe how great this run felt. AND I was out the door by 7:30am. The morning was so nice and cool, which is probably why I felt mostly normal again. I kept this training run intentionally slow because I knew it was going to be a long morning. First time that I listened to a podcast during a run, and synced up perfectly with the release of Nicole Antoinette’s new show Real Talk Radio.

14.00 miles, average 11:23/mi pace. Total time: 2:39:39.
Splits: 11:34 (1) / 11:17 (2) / 11:34 (3) / 11:08 (4) / 11:00 (5) / 10:57 (6) / 12:11 (7) / 10:47 (8) / 10:50 (9) / 11:39 (10) / 12:04 (11) / 11:11 (12) / 11:53 (13) / 11:29 (14)

I should mention that my legs felt *really* tight afterward, and I had to stop to stretch my IT band near the end of the run because my left knee was starting to go wonky on me. Not pain, but TIGHT. I also have my new favorite long run fuel in these Pamela’s lemon shortbread cookies. It may be wholly unconventional but those goos and gummies do absolutely ZERO for my hunger on long runs.

SUNDAY: Early in the morning, I took off for OMs in the Outfield at PNC Park. To be honest, I was underwhelmed by the experience despite feeling very excited before the event. I originally intended to do a separate review, but now that I feel very “meh” about the whole thing, I won’t. And I refuse to give in to FOMO again. I did think it was cool that Chelsea Collective got involved with OMS in the Outfield though — every participant got a free branded yoga mat.

Maybe I was just crabby about how janky my feet looked?
Maybe I was just crabby about how janky my feet looked?

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 22.10 miles
Total training miles: 142.64 miles

Weekly Therapy: The same… but different.

- Mel

the week:
Every day my boyfriend asks me what I’m going to do with my evening. For the last two years, my “free time” consisted of my head in a book or laptop and hours spent on homework. More often than not my answer these days is somewhere between “nothing” and “everything.” I feel like I have no gear, but I’m trying to be mindful about my time with minimal obligations and my intentions for using it wisely.

It still hasn’t quite hit me that I’m done with my degree program. So, now I’m currently vacuuming a lot.

weekend:
Long run! A street party with lots o’ pig. And some yoga in the outfield of PNC Park. Yeah, pretty stoked for this weekend.

52 books in 52 weeks:
#30 “Whisper My Secret” by JB Rowley – Wow, I got completely caught up in this book! While the story was a bit predictable, the writing style kept me engaged until nearly the end (where I feel as though some of the writing fell flat).

seven things, seven days:
1. I received a postcard from a hello prompt subscriber in India. Made my week! I seriously love that tiny letter community so much.
2. I guess I got a head-start on my 30-day challenge to get rid of stuff… by leaving a bag of hair styling products and accessories in my hotel room over the weekend. RAWR.
3. Oh, just stockpiling my favorite running shoe that was discontinued and on 6pm.com at a closeout discount. What was that about getting rid of excess?
4. So excited for the boyfriend, who had the opportunity to golf in an amateur-champions game this week. He got to golf with a LEGEND and that is just the coolest. I really wish I could have been there to watch.
5. TRIGGER WARNING: And how those Trigger Warnings are coddling us. {via The Atlantic}
6. The difficulties of change management sums up my unusual work week. {via HBR}
7. For me and for my fellow social introverts: How to Avoid Introvert Burnout {via PsychCentral}

Weekly Therapy: …but maybe we should.

- Mel

the week:
I feel as though I haven’t had a chance to think this week, let alone PACK (or, you know… run). Every night I had something on my calendar and to be honest, I’m looking forward to a couple hours in the car by myself tonight.

weekend:
Heading over to O-hi-O for some running (participating) and roller derby (observing). I have the Rock Hall Half Marathon on Sunday, and the WFTDA D2 Playoffs at the Public Auditorium throughout the weekend. Should be a kick-ass, hot-ass weekend.

52 books in 52 weeks:
#29: Seeking Ultra by Paul Klipp – I feel… a bit disingenuous including this in my list, given that it’s about 50 pages long. But I had no idea going in, and was, frankly, disappointed that I was duped into reading this book that’s not really a book (via Kindle). Moving on…

seven things, seven days:
1. Randomly won a $250 visa gift card for taking a survey about healthcare (which I’ll be ironically using to pay a stupid doctor bill; WHYTF do I even have insurance if it covers nothing?).
2. There was a wellness fair in Market Square this week, and I finally got to try some Gluten Free Goat Bakery baked goods (chocolate chip cookie and a cider donut, if you must know). I know that she uses potato starch in her ingredients, but I had already failed at my attempt in having a non-contaminated, nightshade-free lunch (which was so much FAIL), so… YUM.
3. Excited about crossing a few of these cool places to do yoga off my list soon. {via NEXT Pittsburgh}
4. Speaking of yoga, 1600 (SIXTEEN HUNDRED) people signed up for OM in the Outfield next weekend (I am one of them). More like OMG in the Outfield, amiright?! #anxiety
5. I feel like I was reading something that my daily internal monologue posted with this: …Or Maybe, I Don’t. {via Wit & Delight}
6. The psychological obstacles holding you back at work {via The Book of Life}
7. ME, in sum: “If being watched while you undergo a task, even something benign as eating, makes you highly uncomfortable, then you have social anxiety.” Social anxiety and 7 ways to cure it {via A Daring Adventure}

Training Week 10: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

So since I broke my finger, I intentionally took a couple days off because of the immense swelling. But by Wednesday I felt my body was ready to do some running and yoga and get back into my routine (and get over my crankiness). My finger is still super bruised and gross though.

MONDAY: Scheduled Rest Day

TUESDAY: Supposed to be a Fast Finish day, but rested (and hated everything and everyone and OH MY THE CRANK).

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club with lululemon from Urban Elements. Our group run started off with a nice gift from lululemon — a pair of their running socks to try out. That’s super exciting (and they’re purple)! They fit very similar to the Champion socks that I swear by, but my feet felt a little sweatier in them. I’ll test out over a few more short runs before claiming them as a new option.

We did 3.07 miles at a 10:00 average pace. We kept it slower than normal because of a new runner to the group. New people means the club continues (you should join us). Plus, the weather felt nice! Like, THERE’S HOPE FOR US ALL.

I was able to modify my yoga a bit too, so as to not further injure my finger. 75 minutes of hot flow, as per usual (but without any difficult inversions or floating).

THURSDAY: Rest. Was invited over to a friend’s for a little patio fun, which was necessary.

FRIDAY: Supposed to be a Fartlek day. *sigh*

SATURDAY: Had enough of rest days, and went out for a 5-mile run at average 9:38 pace. Today was supposed to be cross-training, but I needed to run. And it felt awesome. I followed it up with some plank holds and GOOD stretching.

SUNDAY: Functional Fitness 101, aka: moving furniture. It was too dang hot and I wimped out of my run (again). I keep telling myself that we are less than a month away to the onset of Fall temperatures (sweet baby Jesus, hurry). I know that I need to work on my resilience and my motivation, but 94 degrees plus humidity means NOPE. So I spent an entire day cleaning out my attic and organizing.

This was a day that all I had to do was put on my run outfit, and I probably would have gone out. But I became so preoccupied in getting this space organized. (At least, it’s no longer an excuse, right?)

I’m starting to feel bad about missing my runs. Seriously though, I know that I cannot continue this behavior and be able to run a full marathon. I will chuck this up to a fake taper learned behavior for my half marathon next weekend, and then I need to get super serious about my training. I MEAN IT.

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 8.08 miles
Total training miles: 104.43 miles FINALLY over that century mark!

Fun fact: I’m just about equal to the total training miles that I had for the Pittsburgh Half (granted, that was at 14 weeks of training). It’s still probably far too few miles, but I had a pretty good half in May and I hope this spells good for Cleveland next weekend.

Training Week 8: Niagara Falls International Marathon

- Mel

Week 8 was an OK training week! I know that this upcoming week is going to be hit-or-miss what with traveling and finals. I also realized that my scheduled 5K is on SATURDAY (not Sunday), and I have my final presentation an hour later, so I’ll probably be too stressed to run it. *sigh* In any event, I look forward to taking some run-selfies in Toronto this week. (God, I hope it’s not 80+ degrees!)

MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: I experienced technical difficulties in between my MapMyRun and my Garmin. My stupid watch wouldn’t connect to GPS (again!) downtown, so I ran around for a half mile or so to the Point in hopes of connecting. I did the reverse loop from the Point over the Ft. Pitt Bridge and over through the South Side trail, back up Smithfield and through downtown again. MMR also logged me doing a 4-minute mile swim over the Allegheny again, so… I guess I’m going to start pausing my workout when I run around the Convention Center.

Anyways, one app tracked me at 6.06 miles, the other at 4.5; I split the difference and figured I ran somewhere around 5 miles.

lululemon running tank pink
Sweating it out in my awesome new lululemon top — a gift from my run club buddy for my 5K PR. *love* (see also: cat photo bomb)

WEDNESDAY: Weekly workout with run//yoga club — 3.2 hot, slow, and sweaty miles and 75 minutes of hot and sweaty (and not slow) yoga, with an added emphasis on heart openers. This was probably my favorite practice so far with Megan at Urban Elements.

THURSDAY: Extra rest day (since I had to work a 12-hour day, oof)

FRIDAY: Liberty Mile! And yep, only that one mile. Once again, no connectivity with my Garmin, so I had NO pacing function. Recap of this race to post this week!

SATURDAY: I was really getting that urge to run again today, but I decided that resting for Sunday’s long run was more important. I did get a massage in the morning, which was overdue and much-needed.

SUNDAY: Run 9 miles Kind of run 10.01 miles. Admittedly, this was a TOUGH run. I waited until late afternoon, where the heat index was still somewhere in the mid-80s and felt like my shoes were melting on the pavement. I took several walk breaks, and went out too far on the South Side trail. And, well, by the time I was downtown, I was still a mile away from home. I kind of run-walked that last bit only because I was going to pass out if I stopped (and I seriously contemplated calling the boyfriend to come get me).

Total runs: 4
Total weekly miles: 19.21
Total training miles: 92.01