Week In Review

83 Miles
11M MLR
14M with 8M tempo via 556, 612, 559, 554, 604, 600, 551, 555
23.5M at 6:59 pace
8 Runs, 0 Days Off

The marathon training grind really kicked off this week.  When Terry had an 8 mile tempo on the schedule for marathon pace, I immediately synced with Heather to see if her workout was somewhat similar. Fortunately, she had 6 miles at MP, so I hopped on board with her to that we could both mutually benefit from running together.  I continue to be amazed at the support I've found out here, both from a running and personal perspective.  I had a bit of a cold this week, and Heather just chatted away during this workout, keeping my mind off the struggle I was facing.  I felt bad because I couldn't respond with much more than "yeah, it's great" for most of the run.

On Saturday, Tom and Jenna joined me for portions of a time on feet long run where I had strict instructions to drink very little to no water.  I got a couple of sips just twice during the run, and I was grateful that I did if more just for the mental sanity it provided me.

I can't believe that Chicago is in just 6 weeks!  It became more real because some Bank of America associates came out to meet me at Rancho San Antonio for a photo shoot for an article.  Typically BOA features about 12 athletes who have really cool, inspiring stories related to the marathon.  Most of the folks are real heros, battling cancer or running with a handicap or helping save lives in other countries.  My story obviously isn't along those lines, but they wanted to feature me since I do work for Bank of America.  Ironically, while I've been extremely open about my divorce to everyone in both my work and personal lives, I didn't want to make that the spotlight for the piece on me.  So instead it's mostly about the injury leading up to the Trials, which was really just a small blip on the map compared to all the other junk that happened in the first quarter of 2016.

But I digress.  I'm so honored and humbled to be included in the BOA Chicago Elite field.  After all, I was rejected at least twice before to this program.  Over the years, Bank of America has supported my endeavors to pursue training for the Olympic Trials and also to graduate from the Duke Fuqua School of Business while working full time.  Even during my separation, when I felt like I was putting my career on the line by requesting to work from Durham for an undetermined amount of time, my manager came through and let me do it, no questions asked.  It's moments like those that made me feel like I truly mattered, not only as an employee, but as a person.  I can thank all of my current and past managers for creating that culture.  My managers have been completely supportive of me during my 8-year stint at this company, so it's very meaningful for me to race as a way of saying thanks for all that they've done over the past couple of years.

Week in Review

71 Miles
11.5M MLR
20 Miles LR in 6:52 pace in Seattle
7 Runs, 1 Day Off
3 Days in Seattle
3 Days in DC

So this wasn't exactly the week that I was hoping for from a marathon training standpoint, but I chose not to let it get to me. I've been on a whirlwind of a travel tour every weekend in August, so I'm happy that I'm still prioritizing my long runs.  I ditched my workout target (8 miles at MP) and opted instead to do a long run with Josh, a guy that I had strava-stalked through some mutual friends.  Running with Josh was a perfect way to get a full tour of Seattle while also taking advantage of the much cooler weather on the West Coast before heading to DC for Katie's wedding.

As an aside - have I mentioned lately how FREAKING awesome Strava is? I swear that Strava is the technology version of myself -- always connecting runners.  Caleb used to always say he was so impressed by my ability to recruit at least one other person to join runs.  He always expected a surprise person to pop up on our runs because of my tendency to be inclusive.  Strava has allowed me -- through segments and CRs -- to find folks that run near my current location AND folks who can run the same pace as me.  It's seriously the best.  It really pulled through for me in Seattle, as I did 20 with Josh on Wednesday and then 10 with Roger on Thursday.

After my work trip to Seattle, I flew back to SFO, where I met Peter and together we flew to DC for Katie and Torin's wedding.  It was such a raw, real and uninhibited ceremony.  I was so content to witness Katie and Torin reveal why and when they fell in love and then to celebrate with them at the reception.  It was so great seeing familiar Fuqua faces including Kishor, Claire and Randi.  It was a really great week, filled with lots of good friends!

Week in Review

74 Miles
14M with 2 x 2miles @ 602/600 (2:00 jog), 559/5:59 (2:03 jog), 4 miles at 602/553/552/556
12M MLR
20M at 7:00 average
2 days in Pacific Palisades

I'm sooo far behind on my blog, but this was my first full week back to training after the SF half!  I shuffled my long run to be on Friday so that I wouldn't have to worry about knocking out a 20-miler when I was in LA with Peter.  It all worked out quite nicely because I helped out Max on his last long run before Santa Rosa while, at the same time, getting in a solid effort for myself.  I also found a new workout buddy - Jonah - who has proven to be in quite stellar shape!  He kept me company for the 8 mile workout at Marathon Pace and  I was so excited when he blasted past me on the final mile.  I FINALLY found a dude that I can run with and together we can help each other achieve our running goals! #WINNING

(Down) Week in Review

41 Miles
19.5M Long Run
3 Days off, 0 doubles
1 climbing day
3 days in NYC

The highlights of this week were:

1. Taking a couple days off as a reward for winning the SF half
2. Running along Park Ave in NYC since it was closed for Summer Streets and then doing a loop in Central Park with a group of Team T-Bone girls
3. Hanging out in NYC with Peter, Merry, Sam, Nikki and Anna....basically gorging myself on chocolate chip cookies and booze.

Considering that this was a down week, it was fun to knock out my longest run in definitely over 14 months in the streets of NYC.  It was hot and humid as hell, but turns out that California hasn't turned me into too big of a baby quite yet.  I felt like I handled the humidity just fine, even if I did have to stop for water a couple of times.  Now I just have 9 or 10 weeks until the Chicago Marathon, where I hope to set a new PR.

This week marked the first weekend of all four in August where I have plans, either traveling to another city or with friends visiting.  Cheers to having tons of friends all over the country!