Weekly Wrap # 7

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap!

This weekly linkup is hosted by yours truly and my good friend Tricia @ MissSippiPiddlin.  The purpose is to connect with and support other active women.  We want to hear about your weekly adventures.  You are encouraged to include anything you did to be active or anything you considered fun.  Please tell us how you amazing women accomplish it all.  You can summarize your whole week or just a small portion of it.  It's up to you!  See rules here.




Monday was my typical rest day.  On a lunchtime trip to Target, I found a new flavor of Zone Perfect Bars.  Has anyone else tried the Cinnamon Roll?  Very yummy!  I love that this bar has 15 grams of protein.  A Zone Bar is my typical second breakfast each day, a few hours after my first one of oatmeal with milk and berries. 

An easy run was on the schedule (I don't follow) for Tuesday.  But the weather was cooler than normal so I wanted to bump up my effort a little and decided on a progressive run to get in a couple miles at a faster pace.  My splits were:  10:00, 10:11 (oops) 9:40, 9:24, 9:05 (average 9:40).  I ran in my new Mizuno Wave Inspire 11 shoes.  My left pinky toe came back singing the blues.  Uh-huh, the toe box is smaller. {Heavy Sigh}

Mizuno, stop changing the shoes!

Wednesday, again the weather was nicer and I didn't want to waste that on the scheduled easy run.  I decided to do another progressive run, this time for 6 miles: 9:57, 9:57, 9:23, 9:34, 9:26, 9:01 (average 9:33). 

Thursday was a rest day and my throat was hurting.  Ugh.  But after 24 hours it was better.  It guess it could have been allergies.  I've had a niggle on the top of my left foot since last weekend.  It doesn't hurt while running, just afterwards.  Yeah, unfortunately I need to be able to walk too. This niggle was making me very nervous about my long run Sunday.

Friday, I ran 6 slower miles (9:58 average pace).  My foot felt better after this run.  I was highly encouraged about that. 


Saturday we headed to the lake early as we were having people over later.  The lake was simply beautiful, although a little choppy from wind.  The water had already cooled 6 degrees.  You can definitely tell Fall is coming.  I got three long ski runs in, probably more than I needed with my super long run the next day.  After 3-4 hours, we headed home because my in-laws were traveling over, and all of the kids and grand kids would be there.  There was a chaotic house full of people swimming, playing cards, eating party food and watching football {Roll Tide anyway}.  Mrs. Party Pooper called it a day around 10.  I needed an early start for Sunday's run.  It was forecast to be a hot day.

After a quick breakfast of yogurt, I hit the street Sunday morning just before six.  It was a pleasant 66 degrees. I tried not to look at my pace and run easy for the first third and hopefully speed up a little after that, which is my strategy for the marathon.  I looped around my mailbox three times and had a bottle stashed in the woods at one of my U-turn points.

I had 3 GU, 1 banana, 4 salt caps, 32 ounces of Gatorade Endurance and at least that much water.  I began losing the precious shade around mile 15.  At mile 18, I headed to the neighborhood park so I could run the last very warm miles in the shade.   It was 88 degrees when I returned home.

This happened too!  Thanks, Fitbit!

I had no rubbing, no chafing, no cramping, no pain --- nothing.  By no means, however, do I want you to think that running 23 miles felt easy.  It did not.  These long runs have been both a physical and mental challenge for me.

It boils down to putting one foot in front of the other...over and over, even when you think you can't take one more.  {Naturally this puts a song in my head.  Put one foot in front of the other, and then you'll be walking out the door...    Can anyone guess where that song is from?}

After 40 miles this week (a personal record) I am happy to be a resident of Taper Town.  I think I'm as ready as I can be for the Chicago Marathon!

And that's a wrap!

Tell be something fun about your week!

Are you training for something?  How is it going?
 

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