Week in Review

74 Miles
12M MLR
15.6M with 5 x Broken 2K repeats (1000m with 200m float, 800m fast, 400m jog rest)
     84/87/43 (57) 81/82 (2:08)
     87/86/43 (57) 81/82 (2:15)
     84/84/42 (59) 80/82 (2:03)
     84/84/42 (65) 81/82 (2:03)
     84/84/42 (53) 81/81
18M with 10 miles at 601/602/558/601/602/601/603/601/604/555

Phew, what a week! I'm definitely ready for a solid taper! And after Saturday's workout, Terry emailed me that I get the best (and worst!) present of all:  a really nice taper.  But first, let's start with Wednesday.  My trusty training partner, Jonah, and I headed out to the track near El Camino to run the broken 2K repeats workout.  Ironically enough, the last time I did this workout was back in late March in Durham when my marriage was crumbling apart in front of my eyes.  For more reasons than one, I wanted to really crush this workout, and I did just that!  Also, it's a really fun way to do a track workout.  Typically I cringe when I see that Terry's created a workout that logistically works better on the track, but I knew that this one would be more interesting than just doing 400m repeats or countless mile repeats.  

On Saturday, Jonah and I headed out for my final big marathon workout.  It was a bright and sunny day, and I gave Jonah strict orders that we should run 605 pace.  Instead, we were running low 600s to high 550s.  By mile 9, I watched as Jonah pulled away from me and I maintained my pace.  I didn't go with him because mainly I felt like crap, but I also didn't consider trying to go with him because I know that I've got a marathon in two weeks and he does not.  It was so cute because at the end of the workout, when Jonah rounded back for me, he immediately asked "Are you okay?!" because it's the first time he's seen me do less than how the workout was written.  I'm used to having workouts where I feel like poo-poo, but he's never really seen that happen yet.  After reading my log about how tired my legs feel, Terry immediately responded with strict instructions to take my slower runs even easier and to reduce my mileage.  I am happy I get to take a step back from running, but I also loathe taper weeks because they get so boring and tedious. I also typically feel super bloated during taper because I'm not running as much and because I'm eating more carbs than normal.

Terry also said that my tempo workout gave a good indicator as to what a good target pace is for Chicago - and I agreed with his assessment.  We both recognized that the best way to PR at Chicago is to run 605 pace through at least halfway or even 18 and then to try to run faster after that.  At least now I have a goal that my own coach also believes I can achieve!

Week in Review

66 Miles
2 Days off
15M with workout of 4 x 2.5M (800m rest) at 556/555/257 (326) 550/555/252 (328) 
555/556/253 (343) 553/557/253
11.5M with 12 x 200m repeats at 40s with 200m jog rest
24M time on feet long run in 2:55 (7:17 pace), with no food before hand, 2 sips of water

Despite having taken off two days due to sickness, I absolutely killed my runs this week.  I have always prided myself on my ability to listen to my body, even if it means taking a day off.  It's really helped me to put aside my ego and just trust that taking time off will be better for me in the long run.  As a result of my strange stomach virus on Sunday, I felt like total crap on Monday and Tuesday. I didn't run or climb and focused on just taking naps and sleeping a lot.  By the time Wednesday rolled around, I knocked out 9 miles easily.  I decided to try out the original workout of 5 x 2.5 miles on Thursday because I'd have the company of Jonah.  For this workout, my notes were recorded as follows:

1. Super glad I took Monday and Tuesday off from running. 
2. This went 100x better than I was expecting given how sick and tired and just terrible I felt Sunday through Tuesday.  It was harder trying to slow down to run 555 pace than it was to run 550 pace. It just felt SO effortless!  
3. Thank god for Jonah. 
4. After the third one, I stopped for a quick sip of water and the jog rest time doesn't reflect that so it was probably more like a 4:00 rest. 
5. YAY!   I killed this workout!  This is the first time that I've really walked away knowing that I'm in shape to PR at Chicago.

Saturday and Sunday were also somewhat big days, with a light 200m workout, followed by a long run on the rolling hills of Canada Road with some of my guys.  Most, if not all, of my runs this week were spent with Jonah and I am SO GRATEFUL for his company.  Especially this week, when I was doubting my ability to get runs in after my sickness, his presence was crucial.  For the long run on Sunday, I made the mistake of only drinking water and not eating any food before.  I had only 2 tiny sips of water during the run so that in the final 2 miles of the run, my body was seriously bonking.  My legs started to feel eerily similar to the end of a marathon, so ultimately I was grateful for the practice of running on really tired legs and the chance to use my mind to overcome my protesting body parts.  

Week in Review

83.6 miles
16M MLR
14M with workout of 5 x 1.5M with splits of 600/252 (2:00), 555/250 (1:59), 557/249 (1:59), 601/250 (2:01), 556/244
12M MLR
21M  at 648 average pace

It's always fun to take advantage of a bank holiday by running 16 miles.  I was so relieved to have the entire three day weekend to myself, without any major plans so that I could just focus on training.  With Peter in China for work, I had a lot of time to just pack up my things for my upcoming move and also to catch up on writing all the training plans for my athletes.

For the 1.5M workout, I did this solo at Stanford around the 2 mile road loop.  I thought it was going to go quite poorly, but it went rather well. I was really stoked to hit - and even surpass - the target workout splits without the company and encouragement from the usual suspects like Heather or Jonah.  I should also note that I decided to start lifting again, so I was really sore during this workout because I took a three month hiatus from picking up anything over 25 pounds.  I only decided to lift because my lower back was beginning to get tight again - which is what caused my achilles injury last October - so I did not want to see any of that force me out of Chicago.

Peter made it back on Friday and by Sunday, I'd knocked out 21 miles with Jonah, Max and Tom on Canada Road.  I didn't feel great on this one and actually ran a bit slower than Terry had planned, but I knew that it was more important to listen to my body and just run on feel.  I still closed the last 2 miles in 620 and 559, so it wasn't a *terrible* run, just not example 14-16 miles at 630-645 pace as written.  The unfortunate cap to this weekend was when I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling absolutely terrible, ultimately resulting in vomiting a couple of times, among other things.  It was great to have Peter there because he made sure I had whatever I needed to at least feel somewhat better, which was mainly just moral support and saltine crackers.

Week in Review

83 Miles
20.5M Long Run with 11 miles at 605, 600, 602, 558, 604, 608, 605, 602, 606, 605, 555
15M with 3 x 3 miles w/ 800m jog rest via 552/556/556 (3:28), 552/559/549 (3:45), 554/557/552
8 Runs, 0 Days Off
3 Rock Climbing Days
1 Lift Session

What a great week! I kicked off the week with my last day spent with some of my favorite guys - Nick and Matt - which included a rock climbing session plus some yummy dinner in Palo Alto.  The rest of the week was spent catching up on sleep, running a lot, and working and climbing more.  Coach T-Bone's plan for the week was somewhat daunting, but I managed to hit all the pace and mileage goals without a hitch!  Peter is gone in China for this week and next, so I figured I would take advantage of the free time by knocking out some solid miles and also taking some time to reflect.

I am in such a good place right now.

My training is going really well and I finally have friends to share the miles with.  I've created a solid crew to run with in the mornings (which is surprisingly a much more difficult feat than it sounds since Californians loooove to sleep in and run in the afternoon).  I've gained back the divorce weight that I lost during the roughest weeks and I look healthy again!

The first half of this year was one of the toughest moments of my life, but so far the second half is shaping up to be pretty fan-freaking-tastic.  I'm so excited to toe the line at Chicago in just five weeks.  It's such a privilege to be able to toe the line with so many professional runners and then also so many of my great friends.