3/17 - 3/23

Mon: 5-miles
Tues: 10 x 800m (3:07,07,06,07,08,06,08,07,08,09)
Wed: 4-miles, 6-miles
Thurs: 8-miles (w/ some "good effort" miles)
Fri: 3-miles
Sat: 20-miles
Sun: 7-miles
Total: 60 miles

I managed to get three "marathon" workouts in between last Sunday and this Saturday. I was getting nervous because I was running out of time to do them. I'm considering last Sunday's pacing to be 13.1-miles at marathon pace, Tuesday brought 10 yasso 800's, and I did my last long run on Saturday. So, while that's good, I am getting nervous. Boston is one month away, which is a little close. I wish I had two months!

Monday's recovery run was probably a little slower than it needed to be, but it didn't feel bad. Plus, it was early in the morning, dark, and misting. We met friends for dinner that night, so I didn't run.

Tuesday's track workout went well. I made a deal with myself that I'd try and get through all ten of the 800's (as Mr. Yasso would have it), but would stop as soon as I got above 3:15. That is the workout afterall, and I'm running out of time to get to ten (I've been hovering at eight for a while now). I started a bit early and got two in before the rest of the group got there. My intention was to make these slower and let the rest of the group pull me through the remaining eight. That didn't exactly happen, although it definitely helped having the rest of the group there for the later part of the workout. We stayed consistent despite the pretty good headwind on the finishing straightaway. I was happy to finish all ten in under 3:10. The drizzle started to pick up towards the end of the workout, and I couldn't feel my hands by the time I got back to the car.

It finally stopped raining around noon on Wednesday, and I managed to sneak out for 4-miles around 3PM. I needed it. Work is getting frustrating and I couldn't think. That night, we ran from Lululemon with the run club that my friend Kaitlin started. It was good to see her again, even if it did mean that I had to run up Lassiter Mill. I forgot about how long that hill was!

Thursday's run went decently. We finally got to run on the greenway and not North Hills (I love daylight savings time), and it was actually nice out! I randomly added some pickup sections and they felt ok even though I'm not sure how fast I was going because they did not fall evenly on mile marks and I didn't lap my watch. Oh well.  

Friday was a shakeout / make-up mile day, so nothing to write home about. It was beautiful out though!

Saturday was my last long run.. wahooo! We also had a group run from the store, which meant that we had to start extra early (as in 6AM) to get miles in. The run didn't seem like 20 miles because it was broken up a bit. Plus, I was half asleep in the beginning, and couldn't see my watch because it was dark. So, I mentally tried to trick myself that I didn't actually do those miles. I pretty much had no clue where I was going for the first 6 miles and was chasing Jim, Chris, and Brandon for most of it, which was a good distraction. They stopped the first part of the run at 8ish miles, but I kept going for another 2ish so I wouldn't tighten up too much. Then, back to RRO for a bit before the Galloway run started, and then back out again after getting some water. I was definitely starting to get tired around mile 4 of the second run. By this point, I had passed all of the Galloway groups and had run out of people to say hello to. The lack of caffeine and starting at 6AM was starting to manifest itself as a headache, and I was maybe a little dehydrated too. Anyways, I turned around at 5 miles and headed back, so I got to see everyone again! When I hit the water fountain, I was pretty dead. Half of an Espresso Love Gu and some water helped, but those last 2.5 miles seemed to take forever. Running up Longstreet didn't help either, although it was good for me... my one goal was to keep it under a 9min/mile for this stretch, which I managed to eek out in the last 0.15. Anyways, I made it.

Sunday's run ended up better than it started. My back/hip feel twingey. I also had a weird feeling in my calf for the first half of the run on Saturday. All of these things seemed to dissipated by the end of the run. All the same, it has me cautious. As my dad said to me Saturday afternoon, "don't get hurt."