Where to now? – Goal Setting

So for that last few weeks I have been enjoying not having any specific training plan or mileage to hit. I run somewhere around 5ish miles a day, long run in the 10s, comfortable happy paces. It has been a welcome break from my very Type-A schedule, but I knew that sooner or later I would need to get a goal race on the horizon to focus on.

So I guess I need to now finally admit to myself that I am in fact training for something. In fact I am already on week two of training as of posting this…. So in my afterglow of the Chicago Marathon, I decided I didn’t want to do another marathon training cycle back to back. I had surpassed my goal at Chicago, and the thought of trying to improve it or race faster just wasn’t appealing to me. I am more than satisfied with that PR and I have my BQ and so I was looking for something new to try instead. Browsing around online the other day I came across and advertisement for a new race premiering next year and it peaked my interest and for the first time in a long time I thought “Is it possible? Could I go that distance?” followed by the feeling that I Had To Do This Thing.

On January 30th, which is a big milestone birthday for me, I will be running the Southern Tour Ultra 50k. The thought of running 50k is slightly intimidating but I felt so good after Chicago I know I could hold out for a few more miles. Also my plan is to throw out any goal time and instead focus on having fun and enjoying myself on MY BIRTHDAY at a REALLY LONG RACE! Now I had several people warn me that this was a silly idea because no one would want to run this with me (Don’t worry I am not asking anyone to do it) and others who told me that YES this is EXACTLY how I should celebrate my day. So it is on. Officially official since I am writing it here I guess.

Now I am still pretty daunted by the high mileage to the long runs coming up. I am already used to stacking long runs because it is the same plan that I used for Chicago, but the thought of training runs going longer than 20 seems like a scary idea and against all marathon training I have done so far. But I am enjoying the fact that for the first time in a long time I feel challenged and excited about a distance. You can get really used to running the same mileage and training runs when you do back to back marathon/half marathon plans, and this is a new and dangerous beast.

I really can’t wait to really get into the meat of the training program and see what it is like and so I will continue my training logs just like I did for my Chicago training. I hope that it is a little bit interesting for anyone who bothers to read as I jump straight into the crazy world of Ultra Running.

Downtime…

So it has been almost three weeks since the Chicago Marathon has passed. I know that I meant to recap the entire weekend (and I promise to try and revisit it later), but if I don’t get back to current events I know that I will slack off and forget to post at all.

So what have I been up to since exceeding my expectations back in the Windy City? A lot of relaxing, a lot of school work, and a little bit of running. I have been guilty in the past of jumping from one training cycle to the next, without ever taking enough of a break in between. My usual recovery from a marathon was two days off and then right back at it. This is of course the dumbest plan ever and I believe is what led to me having a lot of stupid injury issues that either took forever to heal up, or become major issues that led to a lot of time off. After Chicago I had already decided that after such an intense short training cycle I was going to take a complete week of absolutely zero running before trying to come back. Now, after Chicago although I felt amazing with no aches or pains (I have never finished a marathon feeling so good before), I decided that a week of complete rest was even more deserved to reward my body for out preforming what I think I was even in shape for. It is really hard to go from 50+ miles a week to zero but I knew that I would be better for it in the long run and so I sucked it up and enjoyed being a normal person for a week.

So what did I do with my free time? Mostly slept. It took me a few days of some solid 9+ hour nights to feel like my body was recovered. Although I didn’t have any injury issues my body was Le Tired and wanted to nap allll the times. Besides sleeping I was also focused on eating what ever I wanted and what my body was craving. For whatever reason, all I wanted was healthy veggies and fruit but I made sure to continue to get some solid protein and carbs to restore what was lost. Then I focused on the things that I was missing up on while running so fucking much. I went out with friends, I did a lot of school work to get ahead, I read, I actually watched some tv, I even finally finished moving and unpacking my stuff. When I felt like my legs needed a little motion to get the blood flowing, I got back on my lonely bike for some nice rides. I did yoga to help stretch out an knots and bring some calm back after such a hectic but fun trip. Basically I just enjoyed life and took a lot of “me time”.

The one thing I made sure not to focus on was any sort of returning to run schedule or the thought of any goal races to come. It is always a little depressing once a big race is over and I can sort of rush to work towards something else to relive the excitement. This time I knew that I needed to give it time and really decide what I want to do. The thought of jumping back into marathon training was pretty unappealing and I didn’t need to. I don’t have any desire to try and beat my time and go for a faster spring marathon (I am quite content to sit on a 3:26) and so I am not planing on going for that any time soon. When I returned to any mileage (and I kept it super low the first few days) it was all easy miles without looking at the watch and just going my feel. Luckily the weather as been AH-MAZ-ING so running again instead of being a chore has been a blast. This is a feeling that you tend to lose after weeks and weeks of miles that have to get done.

So what now? Well now that I am back to a sort-of-running schedule I have a couple ideas on the horizon. I didn’t know if I would continue the blog now that Chicago is over, but I have found it fun and helpful to keeping track of just how my training is going. So I think I will continue to recap my weekly training as well as just spewing my random thoughts. Because lets face it: people get really sick of hearing me talk about running. For now I will enjoy my easy runs and in a couple days really decide where I am going from here!

Race Recap: Bank of America Chicago Marathon

How do I recap the most amazing race of my running life so far? How do I recap the most amazing trip and weekend in a city I completely fell in love with? I don’t even know where to start and I am sure that this needs to be done in parts. For now, I will recap the actual race and then hopefully remember to recap the entire trip. More for my own memories sake that anything else.

Looking back on my other posts, you can see that my confidence on a qualifying time much less a PR were pretty much in the realm of don’t-get-your-hopes-up territory. I felt strong, I felt confidant, but I didn’t feel like I had enough training behind me. If anything this race proves to me that you never really know what you are capable of until you shut up and go for it.

The start corral..

Is there anything more exhilarating than lining up with 45,000 other runners and a crowd of 1.2 million supporters around you? I don’t think so. Not after this race. I had decided to not try and stick anywhere near the pacers, I had a bad experience trying that before and besides I wanted to gauge my own pace through out the race. My plan was to run purely by feel and not bother checking my watch for anything other than when to use fuel. So when the gun went off and my corral was released I focused on finding my rhythm and just taking in the sights and sounds of the city (which is of course amazing and gorgeous). I wasn’t even worried about the fact that I hadn’t bothered with a warm up besides walking to the start corrals and some light stretching. Not my usual plan but like I said, there was zero pressure on myself today. I don’t even remember my legs feeling stiff at all in the beginning miles. I think I was possible to starry-eyed over how amazing the crowd support was to even notice. I must have been excited because even though I was holding back the pace from sprinting off like I normally do, I still managed a PR in the mile and 5k during the first 4-5… Whoops.

Once I calmed down I quickly found a pace I would call “comfy” and got down to business. I passed the 3:35, 3:30, then 3:25 pacers and realized that I didn’t even feel like I was running too fast or too hard. It was just the most natural thing in the world. I enjoyed the first portion of the race as we ran over the river and up Michigan Avenue. Miles were just clipping by like it was no ones business. I had a fueling strategy worked out beforehand and planned to alternate between water and Gatorade at every stop. I wanted to be sure and take enough liquids since the high was going to be 77 degrees and there wouldn’t be much shade for the later portions of the race. I also had planned to combat the nausea I always feel when I take a lot of Guu, and so I planned on eating some Scratch gummies for the first miles between 5-10. This turned out to be perfect because it meant I got plenty of fuel and was able to keep down Guu in the later stages of the race. So basically, I was having a blast running all over my most magical playground while snacking on fruit drops. Fucking amazing.

For the middle portion of the race (10-20 miles), I just kept plugging along at my new-found happy pace. I knew it was staying around 7:30ish but I felt so good I wasn’t even worried about hitting the wall later. It was just sunshine and butterflies. I took my first Guu at mile 15 but made sure to make it last about a half mile in order to not feel gross later. I had one more Guu for mile 20 if I needed it since I felt like in my last marathons that was the point that I struggled at.

While running I was with a little next of running buddies  one of whom was named Doug according to his shirt. This was cool at first but after 3 hours of strangers yelling “YAY GO DOUG!” “THATS MY DOUGGIE BOY!” etc I wanted to shove Doug to the ground. I was saved my moment of madness when Doug finally faded away at mile 18 to never reappear again (RIP Doug???).

Around mile 20 is when my legs finally decided to make their plight be heard, and although it was more of a “hey I’ve been moving for over two hours and am le tired” and not “I can’t take another step and I am threatening to break down on you.” Therefore I was able to ignore them and instead just focused on the scenery and people in the crowd around me. It was also starting to warm up at this point, but since I had been running heat equivalent to the fires of hell all summer I already knew how to handle this. I loved that there were sprinklers set up on the course (I ran through them mostly to wash off the Gatorade I was talented at spilling on myself) and there were bright blue water sponges being handed out (I saw several women shove them down their bras… anything to stay cool?). I can see how this is a great idea to help with the heat, but I then had a really fun game of “dodge-the-blue-sponges” for the next half mile after every station.

The last six miles I lied to myself that it was really just two 5k’s back to back. It was nice because we were also heading back towards the downtown area and Grant Park. It was weird in that I was happy the race and therefore physical effort was coming to an end, but I was also a bit sad because it meant that the race experience was coming to an end. I still was just fatigued and had no tightness/cramping/niggling injuries popping up, which was very unlike past marathons. Before long it was time to run the long straightaway to the finish shoot and although my legs didn’t have much kick left, I picked it up a tiny bit to cruise over the finish line. Looking up at the clock I saw it flashing 3:30 and change but I knew that I had a couple mins less than that because of the wave start. I was more than pleased! It wasn’t until I walked back to the finish area that my friends informed me that my official finishing time was actually 3:26!!!!??!!! MIND BLOWN. That is an 8 minute PR??? a BOSTON QUALIFIER with an 8 MINUTE CUSHION?? I never expected that. I never expected that time to feel that comfortable. I never expected to enjoy this race as I had and achieve that much. I had to just lay there for a while in the grass and let it all sink in and process.

I never thought that this marathon would go this way. I had hope and felt an excitement and confidence that I was hoping would translate to a good result, but I never expected quite this much. This training cycle was hard, it was too short, I only did one 20 mile run, I never took a cut back week, I didn’t do any tempo runs, and yet it worked. For whatever reason I was able to rise above all these factors that I thought would only produce a finish of around 3:45 and instead ended up punching my ticket to Boston 2017. Unbelievable!

I know I have said it probably a million times plus two more, but I loved this marathon. I loved every single detail and every single moment of it. I want to do it all right this second. I want to relive it again and again. Will I be back to run Chicago again? You bet your ass I will. I want to run and scream and tell everyone to run this race because I hope that every runner is able to experience what I did. It outlived any expectation I could ever imagine and I am more than happy to have my PR live in Chicago.. for a little while at least. 😉

Happiest little anti-social punk ever

 

Training log: Week 18

Well, it’s here! It is officially race week and so I am just going to recap the first portion of the week and hopefully do I proper recap of the entire race weekend once I am back. I fly out in just a few hours (I’ve never flown before.. yikes) and all my easy prep runs are taken care of now. As they say “the hay is in the barn blah blah blah” but I like to say that at this point, there is nothing left to do. I have put in all the work I could whether it was enough or not doesn’t matter anymore. All that is left is to have a really fun vacation and see a brand new city by running 26.2 miles through it. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all easy runs of either 6 or 5 miles. It is weird because with the taper I felt really fresh and there are no issues concerning me right now. I remember feeling it was strange because usually my body feels like it is begging for a rest day but that didn’t happen at all. Probably because of the decrease in mileage? I mean I still hit 45 last week but if I can feel that good with a “taper” of 45 miles I take it as a good sign.

I always take two days rest before my shake out run the day before the race. I don’t know if it really matters most physically but I feel like it mentally prepares me better. I am also a little weirded out because this is the first time I have felt this calm before a big race. Maybe it is from the lack of pressure I am putting on myself to preform (since I don’t have any set goal time), or maybe it is because I have been under a lot of stress from other real life stuff (transferring and graduating at the end of semester), but I am just so calm and ready to run. There isn’t any second guessing or worries. It is just a focus on shutting up and running.

I don’t know what this will translate as far as results go, but a finish is all I am aiming for. I can’t wait to be in an atmosphere with that many other people and just soaking in all that adrenaline.

Training log: Week 17

As you should know, the key to any good taper period is to shove as many things as possible into it so that you get stressed to the max and stop thinking about that marathon looming in the distance. The best thing to plan for is to have to move so that you spend all your energy carrying heavy boxes all around and trying to figure out why you own so much freaking crap. At least moving is a good opportunity to downsize, right?

Look I attempted to decorate!

So most of my running thoughts have been pushed out of my brain, I didn’t worry about a goal pace or what a target should be, no instead I was more stressed about how I was going to get my belongings from Point A to Point B in between work, school, and that running thing. Luckily this was all accomplished with only the smallest amount of hassles. Namely, that stupid Hurricane named Joaquin and the rain that will never stop.

I can’t even remember a single run this week that wasn’t raining and gross, or humid and gross because it was about to rain at any second. At this point I have forgotten what the sun looks like and I am giving up showering because what is even the fucking point. The only good thing about running right now is that it has dropped temperatures a ton and with this I am enjoying being surprised when I finish a slow and easy run only to realize it really wasn’t that slow. What pace? Not this girl. I also seem to have decided that since Chicago is going to be super flat I need to get in my fun hill runs now. Every run was on the trails except one. The Run That Shall Not Be Named…

I had a really easy 6 miles to start the taper on Monday (Surprising how much faster that is than 8+), and then a set of 3×1600’s on the track on Tuesday. The legs weren’t very happy and the track was a traffic jam of assholes who don’t want to share it, so I hit some good paces but nothing to blow your socks off. It was also the most humid day at 90% and 80 degrees (Ick). Wednesday wasn’t a rest day because I needed that to move my things and so I did a two-a-day of 5 milers on the trails. At this point I was considering just pitching a tent and living on the camp grounds with how much I am there.

Thursday was MOVE ALL THE BOXES! Day and I was happy to finally be in my new place! Yay! Throw in another easy 6 miles on Friday and then the weekend was a double of 8 milers. IT is so strange to me the last week of taper where you don’t really have a long run. Getting back home before 9am was strange and I found myself confused as to what to do with all my free time (school work was the answer…gross). I ran a fast paced 8 on Saturday on the flat trails in the rain and it was muddy and beautiful and reminded me how much I love running and not being on the wet gross roads. True fact: being gross from mud splashing is good! Being gross from road/car sludge is not! Sunday was another easy 8 on the hilly trails but my pace was actually only about 20 seconds slower so apparently “easy” is a lie and I suck at holding back when it is cool and drizzely and I am in my element. It was also weird in that the trails were really empty (it’s usually a bitch to park) and so I enjoyed my solitude of having the entire place to myself.

It is weird to think that the coming weekend I will be in Chicago and running this marathon. I am proud of myself for not giving up and working really hard to get fit to be able to run this race. I know I need to focus on being happy to be there and not worry about the pressure of putting a goal time on my head. Maybe I will surprise myself and have a really great time but I don’t want to be disappointed if that doesn’t happen. So instead I am just constantly obsessing about pressuring myself and then not pressuring myself. I do know that when I get there I will feel completely different and just might light up with my competitive spirit again. No matter what I am just happy to be healthy, strong, and able to be a part of a race so big.

Training log: Week 16

I had to actually go look at my Garmin data to even remember many of this weeks runs… a sign that I waited a bit too long to write up the recap. This week marks the start of my taper, or the start of where I obsess over whether or not I am running enough or too much. I think I have googled and read every article and opinion on the tapering period this week repeatedly, even though I have at this point been through tapering several times. I always start to second guess every fucking thing during the time leading up to the race and thanks to the crazy training cycle I have had this time it is only magnified times a billion.

I like to think I am not that crazy when I taper, but I also know that this is a lie. I do not handle cutting back mileage well at all. Probably because I tend to use my runs as a way to relieve stress and clear my mind, and when this is taken away or scaled back I have a harder time remaining logical about even the smallest of decisions. Also the pent of energy that starts to accrue makes it even more. I just want to go run a million miles and calm down but I can’t and so I turn into a giant bundle of dramatic mood swings. I always tend to warn friends and family when I start the taper and try to become a hermit as much as possible. I promise the marathon is almost here and then I will be normal again!!

But anyway, back to the runs. I was going for a 15-20% decrease in mileage and so ended up with about 55 miles for the week with my long run being a nice 12 miler. I started Monday off with a nice easy 8 miles to recover from the 20 the day before. I felt surprisingly good which was strange because every other training cycle I have felt like death the next day. On Tuesday I had a track workout of 6×800’s and it was windy and humid because of on coming storms and rain throughout the day. I was super hard on myself because I hit decent paces of sub 7’s for each one but I was expecting a little more since I had done this work out before several times. It wasn’t until I remembered that I had a week that consisted now two track workouts, a race, and a 20 miler, that I needed to cut myself some slack and be happy with a good 15 second improvement on legs that were definitely shot. After my rest day I was reborn with a nice tempo-ish 10 miles on the trails and another easy run before my long run of 12 miles.

I find treasures on the trail sometimes!

The long run wasn’t bad, it was just humid and my legs didn’t feel like being legs at that point. Plus I find it hard when you get used to long runs to be inspired for only 12. It’s only a few more than my usual daily runs and so I tend to look at them as just a giant chore (I’m a jerkface). The 12 turned into 13 with an easy cool out mile because I made us run farther in order to hit the bathrooms and draw out a longer rest break… On Sunday I had planned to do a 8 mile easy recovery run and was less than thrilled even though it was cooler and drizzly (my fav!) but I ended up seeing a couple friends on the trails and joined up with one for part of the run and it flew by and was much more pleasant. I think I need to try and actually start meeting with my running friends and run clubs because I do miss running with people (at least for now and then I will go back to being antisocial).

So all in all it was a successful start to the taper! I feel strong and healthy I just wish that my training had allowed for a bit more weeks of long runs. At this point I don’t feel as prepared as I should be or want to be, but there is nothing I can do to change it and I need to just focus on having a strong race and doing the best I can right now. Just a couple more weeks!

Training log: Week 15

The week of the big 2-0! I went into this week knowing that was just looming on the horizon, but knowing that this was also my last hard week of training before tapering. It definitely made it easier to get through the mileage and work outs, but it also left me feeling a bit discontent. I wasn’t worried about running the 20 mile long run, more that I knew this was my only 20 miler in such a short training cycle. This made me feel just a tad disappointed and wishing that I had just one more month of training. I feel like with one more month I could hit some even bigger goals and really feel happy with my progress. As it is I am having to just learn some acceptance and be happy that I have finally made it to Chicago at all.

The week started with a nice easy run to get over the long runs of the weekend before. Just normal boring easy runs. I switched my rest day around because even though it was a peak mileage week, I had something amazing to look forward too that helped break up the week: Death Cab For Cutie in concert!

Photographic proof I do things other than run

I have to admit that I can be sort of a shut in when I am in heavy training because I try to avoid things that A) keep me up waaaay to late at night, or B) have me standing/walking around a whole bunch. The worst shut-in ever, right? BUT! Death Cab is the greatest so I decided to not care and enjoy a beautiful night of some amazing music and pretend to be a normal person that doesn’t care if their hamstrings lock up. So it was basically worth it times a million, and might have been intensely emotional even for someone with a heart as black and bitter as mine.

Wednesday was a fun ten mile run on the hilly trails spent jumping copperhead snakes and enjoying the fact the weather has been fantastic!!!! and then I went to the track for Thursdays work out. I was sort of psyching myself out of 3×1600 repeats, mostly because I really wanted speed but I am still being careful not to push myself too super hard. Also my legs felt like trash from said hills. I haven’t even been programming set paces into my Garmin just to avoid the feeling of dread if I can’t hit them. So sticking to a plan of “just run what feels really hard but you wont break yourself” I ran all three in an average of 6:45 which is pretty much what I was hoping to stick with. This of course led to even more angst of wishing I had one more month or training…

The rest of the weeks easy runs were pretty unspectacular, I had an 8k race on Saturday (that I will recap in another post) so I did a 2-a-day that day, that leads straight into that fun little 20 mile run for Sunday. I knew that I needed to take it easy racing on Saturday when I had my long run Sunday morning and I am pretty happy that I mostly stuck to that plan. I then decided to not stick to a normal plan of taking it easy the rest of the day and did more non-runner fun activities like walk around for 3 more hours at Sparkcon downtown. Brilliant life choice.

More evidence of non-running activities!

Then it was time to wake up and spend way to much time on the flat tunnel of pain for my 20 miler. Luckily, this is the first training cycle that I actually had a running partner that was doing the same mileage, so at least it wasn’t just me and my ipod this time. So there was nothing to do but wake up, eat my usually pre-long run breakfast, drink my Scratch, and settle into pace. Magically it wasn’t that bad and I almost enjoyed it? Maybe it was because I knew I was only running one 20 miler, and not my usual 3, maybe it was because I knew this was the last long run I would have to do, but it went by pretty quickly. I mean, as quickly as a 2:40+ min run can go by anyway. Strangely enough there was yet another copperhead jumping incident (snakes seem to be the theme of my running adventures lately).

So with the end of another 60+ mile week chalk filled with a 20 miler and a decent road race, it is now finally time to taper and see what happens. I will be cutting my mileage back and probably only doing one mid-distance long run, and two short track workouts, before going completely stir crazy and insane (I don’t taper well). I hope I can keep myself plenty occupied with finishing boxing up the last of my possessions and some lame school assignments, because I am ready to get on that plane and go finish this bitch. In a way I am glad that I have had a year away from the marathon distance because it has only made me more hungry to get out there and run.

Training log: Week 14

We are currently sitting at less than a month until Chicago. I would pay good money to have one more month of training to make up for time I lost, but at this point there is nothing I can do about it. I just hope to not have any regrets once this race is over about what could have been…

Side note – Hi anyone that is reading this from my real life. I am sorry I am so lame.

This week I was driving the struggle bus yet again. I literally hate running in humidity so much at this point I could and probably have cried. There were quite a few easy runs that felt like death all thanks to the 100% humidity that was going on and I hated and cursed every decision in my life that lead to me running this race. Then I sucked it up and ran anyway and loved every minute of it. Running doesn’t make any sense.

I knew I was hitting a key mileage week, with 60+ to go and a long run of 18 miles staring me in the face. Usually I don’t get dramatic about super long runs, you just suck it up and do them, but with my hasty preparation for Chicago I have been increasing my long runs quite quickly and not having any cut backs. This basically means that every long run I am pushing myself right to the point of what I think I can handle. With the weather being the worst and then realizing I was doing my 18 solo, I was really getting way too wrapped up in my head about it. I took some kind advice from a fellow bad ass runner friend, and waited until Sunday to hammer it out when it would be much more pleasant.

So a week of a few easy runs, a decent ladder workout on the track, a 2-a-day, and a make shift 10 mile tempo to test the legs, meant that I was ready to tackle that long run. Now, I’ve never been a person that listens to music or anything while I run, but I decided to try listening to some podcasts for this one since I was solo and the trail I was running can be mind numbingly boring. I plugged a few Runners Connect podcasts that sounded neat on it and at 6:30 I started running…. and it wasn’t bad. I had spent a lot of time being focused on the negative side that I forgot that at the end of the day I was going to just switch off and start running. 18 miles finished with no issues and when I was cooling down a fellow cyclist on the trail even remarked “You sure don’t look like you just finished 18 miles!” Maybe my fitness is a little better than I think it is.

I decided I hadn’t had enough physical exertion yet, so I spent another portion of the day packing and unpacking some things in preparation for my move.

Most prize possessions getting safely packed away

I wish I had something else remarkable to post, but I spent the rest of the weekend either sleeping, eating, or doing school work. I missed all of the Hopsctoch music festival because I knew standing on feet for hours on end would have been a very bad idea.. Maybe once this marathon is over I can have time for a social life again.. until then I will be eating, sleeping, or running.

Training log: Week 13

I am officially the worst at recaps. In my defense, school work has been a pain and taken a lot of my free time up. Plus running 60 miles the last week eats up quite a bit of your time (and a lot of your time is also spent eating). I actually had the thought of typing this up three different nights but then an extra hour of sleep won out. Sorry not sorry.

Ugh this week. Right when I was feeling strong I get knocked back down to size (it’s okay, my ego needs that from time to time). I am sure there is some weather related science-y explanation for it but I like to believe that for some reason North Carolina has been cursed by a demon spirit and we are living in a hell of heat in humidity because we were all enjoying the first day of fall far too much. For serious, I have lived in the south my entire life but the humidity we have been dealing with is the worst. It’s been two weeks of runs where you struggle to breathe, and your dehydrated and sick the rest of the day. Basically life sucks right now and we should all quit.

I managed to cruise through my easy runs and track work out of 4×1200’s with relative easy, but after taking a rest day I was hit with the Wall of Humidity for the rest of my runs and I bitched and moaned on every one of them. My long run was 16 soul crushing, sweat drenched, disgustingly awful miles. I can usually get out of my own brain and shut off negative thoughts but at two miles into it I wanted to quit. If I hadn’t been running with a friend who kindly reminded me that I had been at this place mentally before and I had pushed through it then and could do it again, I would have quit. My legs were achy, my breathing was crappy, and I was just a generally awful person. I don’t know how I sucked it up, but I did and finished with an average of 8:11 per mile which in that humidity I will wear like a badge of honor.

Of course on Sunday my recovery run of 10 miles felt easy and magical and the complete opposite of the day before. Oh running how I love and loathe you.

Looks pleasant but is actually the gates of Hell

I have to say even with the humidity I was pretty pleased with the week training wise. My mileage is has peaked at what I will maintain from here on out, and knock on wood, I feel like I am handling it well. I am being extremely careful about monitoring my fluid and electrolytes as well as making sure I am not just gorging myself on junk food 24/7. ‘Cause you know, with 60 mile weeks you just want to eat everything in sight like some sort of human vacuum.

I would say the only thing about this training week that is slightly annoying is I am at the point where your life pretty much only revolves around running. I apologize to any friends I might still have that think I hate them, it is just I am either on the trail or asleep most days (sometimes I feel like I am on the trail running and yet asleep). Want to know why runners seem to only have friends that run? It’s because they are the only people who ever get to see them. Any day now my family is going to put out a missing persons report for me and maybe they have just given me up to this crazy nomadic running lifestyle I lead now.

Either way, if anyone needs me I’ll be either running or eating.

Training log: Week 12

Weird. My post for last week was absorbed into the interspace and no longer exists in this world. Very strange because I know I didn’t slack off and not recap it (after all the image is still uploaded and everything). Oh well, I guess I will try and recover it somehow at another point when I feel like it. Jumping right into this past week…

So last week I was super dooper happy about finally reaching my 50 mile mileage total. 50 miles is where I like to hit and hang out when it comes to marathon training. It has been quite a few seasons since I was able to stay at this point healthy, and I was ecstatic that I not only hit it but that my body felt pretty great over all. Well I am happy to report that not only did that week feel great, this past week I hit 55 miles and still am feeling pretty fantastic. I think a lot of this has to do with properly focusing on easy runs vs speed runs, and saving effort for when it matters.

This is helped by the fact that I am content to spend my easy days alone on the trail where I wont get caught up in racing other runners at run club, or pushing my speed just to get home at the end of the day. It also means that I really enjoy the challenge of pushing myself on my hard work out days, like at the track, or the mentally tough days of my long runs. If I am successful at Chicago I know it will be largely because of this change in my mindset when it comes to training.

As far as training runs went, I had a really great track work out of 5x1k where I hit some pretty impressive paces for where I am. I feel like I am almost starting to consider myself “in racing shape” again. My long run was a 14 miler that I was able to keep at an 8:06 minute average for the entire run. Consistent all the way through and although it isn’t my 7:50 pace from past training cycles, I was spent at the end so I know it is what I have right now. After all I have been through this training cycle if I can keep that pace for Chicago I will be extremely pleased!

I am quite please with myself being able to keep such a great week of mileage going. I had a very heavy week at work and took on quite a few extra hours. That coupled with school meant I was more than a little stressed but luckily training didn’t take a hit. It did mean that I was pretty wiped out and slept all weekend, but I got my miles in and stayed somewhat sane.

In the week ahead I am hoping to continue pushing the distance on longs runs but not getting to high in mileage. I can sit around 55 from here on out.