Monday: another beautiful morning in Chicago. Headed out the opposite direction of the day before and was rewarded with some different, also spectacular views. Did some tempo, but it was really all about enjoying Chicago. I'm now rather jealous of the runners I know who travel a lot - it turns out running is a great way to get to know a place. Goal pace was 5:25/km. 2k warmup, 3k tempo (5:21, 5:30, 5:19), break for a photo op, 3k tempo (5:27, 5:36 - nasty headwind, 5:53 - nastier headwind), 2k cooldown, for 10k total.
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| Just fabulous. The city, not my weird deer in the headlights expression. |
Tuesday: last chance to run in the Windy City. Tired, not great food choices over the previous couple of days, and definitely under hydrated, so I took it slow and took a ton of pictures. The best was that this was the first clear day, so I finally got to see a beautiful Lake Michigan sunrise, and then the way the dawn light reflected off the skyscrapers and bridges - well, I can see why there were a ton of photographers all over the place. Chicago, I will be back! The Chicago marathon is officially on my must do someday list. I ended up running 11.5 very enjoyable km.
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| Seriously, I could have put like 50 pictures here. So many amazing things to see! |
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| Someday, I'm running this marathon. |
Wednesday: REST. So tired from travelling. So happy to give my kids big hugs and lots of kisses! Felt terrible all day until just before bed I downed a huge glass of water and a glass of NUUN. Felt a ton better and considering I did not wind up having to run to the bathroom during the night, I was clearly pretty dehydrated. Someday I will remember that when feeling vaguely awful, a big glass of water is often the cure.
Thursday: Track. Up early, out the door in under 7 minutes. Very easy jog to the closest track to see just how dark it was (VERY DARK) and then did four 1 km repeats. Super humid which I am so over. Please go away now, humidity. My legs were tired, my brain was tired, and my times on the 3rd and 4th repeat were sucktacular. (4:53, 4:51, 5:04, 5:00). Whatever. Moving on.
TRX Thursday evening since I've been slacking on my strength training. Pistol squats, sprinter starts, lunges, hamstring curls, rows, pushups, assorted planks and crunches.
Friday: Rest day. Much needed.
Saturday: Met up with Amy for a quick 2k, then joined Patty and Sam for another 22k. Perfect weather. One of those gorgeous cool clear fall days that I adore, absolutely the best for running. I even got to wear long sleeves! Love breaking out the fall wardrobe.There was a clear psychic connection between us as we all wore skirts and pink tops - fortunately very different shades of pink, so we didn't look quite as much like a gang (or, god forbid, cyclists) as we could have. Plus Patty missed the memo on compression socks.
Also one of the best feeling long runs I've done in a while. I finished the 24k feeling energized and like I could do more, rather than spending the last 5k convincing myself not to walk. I suspect the second gel at 16k might have had something to do with it, as I've been using only one gel on my long runs recently. That may be a mistake. Overall a confidence building long run. Admittedly the scenery wasn't quite as great as Chicago, but the company was awesome and there was a nice sunrise over the lake and some good views of the skyway from Northshore. It's home and I love it.
Sunday: Easy recovery 8k to bump the weekly total up. One of these weeks I'll get smarter and stop running these in my stupidly hilly neighbourhood.
Thursday: Track. Up early, out the door in under 7 minutes. Very easy jog to the closest track to see just how dark it was (VERY DARK) and then did four 1 km repeats. Super humid which I am so over. Please go away now, humidity. My legs were tired, my brain was tired, and my times on the 3rd and 4th repeat were sucktacular. (4:53, 4:51, 5:04, 5:00). Whatever. Moving on.
TRX Thursday evening since I've been slacking on my strength training. Pistol squats, sprinter starts, lunges, hamstring curls, rows, pushups, assorted planks and crunches.
Friday: Rest day. Much needed.
Saturday: Met up with Amy for a quick 2k, then joined Patty and Sam for another 22k. Perfect weather. One of those gorgeous cool clear fall days that I adore, absolutely the best for running. I even got to wear long sleeves! Love breaking out the fall wardrobe.There was a clear psychic connection between us as we all wore skirts and pink tops - fortunately very different shades of pink, so we didn't look quite as much like a gang (or, god forbid, cyclists) as we could have. Plus Patty missed the memo on compression socks.
Also one of the best feeling long runs I've done in a while. I finished the 24k feeling energized and like I could do more, rather than spending the last 5k convincing myself not to walk. I suspect the second gel at 16k might have had something to do with it, as I've been using only one gel on my long runs recently. That may be a mistake. Overall a confidence building long run. Admittedly the scenery wasn't quite as great as Chicago, but the company was awesome and there was a nice sunrise over the lake and some good views of the skyway from Northshore. It's home and I love it.
Sunday: Easy recovery 8k to bump the weekly total up. One of these weeks I'll get smarter and stop running these in my stupidly hilly neighbourhood.
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| My pictures after Chicago were terrible this week, so here's my outfit from Sunday. The t shirt says 'RUN', just in case I forget what I'm doing and need a reminder. |
Weekly summary: 64km run in 6:21:45. 1 TRX workout. Building up to that pre-race peak!
This upcoming week I'm running a 10k race. Haven't raced a 10k since the spring (where the race featured high winds and a torrential downpour), so I'm hoping for a shiny new PB. I hesitate to put any goals down, though, since that has failed so spectacularly the last two times. So I'm just going to shut up and run.
This upcoming week I'm running a 10k race. Haven't raced a 10k since the spring (where the race featured high winds and a torrential downpour), so I'm hoping for a shiny new PB. I hesitate to put any goals down, though, since that has failed so spectacularly the last two times. So I'm just going to shut up and run.
Great week! Chicago is 100% on my list as well. Supposed to be a super fast course. The marina photo is beautiful. You may want to consider putting it up somewhere.
ReplyDeleteChicago is a fantastic marathon. World Major baby!!
ReplyDeleteWay to go Emma! Rest days are as important as training days,