Training week 16: 4 weeks till Chicago!

Wow, only another month and only one more week of hard work outs.  I AM SO READY FOR TAPER.  Remind me I was yelling this as I am going taper crazy.  Of course the weather has taken a turn back to more summer like temperatures, just in time for my last hard week.  I am sure once I am in taper, the weather will be the most perfect weather EVER.  That is my luck.  While I am getting more sleep thanks to miller miraculously recovering, I am still opting to do weekly runs at night versus getting up at 4 am due to the length of the runs.  Here is how my week went:

Monday: a repeat of last week's repeats that I didn't get to due to sleeplessness (Scheduled 2 mile x 2 repeats, 400 meter recovery, 1 mile repeat, 400 meter recovery, 1 mile warm up and cool down)  Recruited the speedy Mel G to come suffer with me.  The run went surprisingly well.  We had no issues hitting our paces, in fact sometimes we had to slow down.  I was amazed that I didn't struggle with this run, even with the 20 mph sustained winds.  I had a pretty big runner's high after this one for sure.

Tuesday: Day off due to Andrew's soccer practice.  Soccer was more about running around the field and playing with his friend than doing actual soccer. I think he just got bored when they gave lengthy discussion about what they needed to be doing instead of just doing.  Oh well. Just glad he is staying on the field for the majority of the 45 minute session and not crying.  

Wednesday: My last tempo run.  Nine miles of glorious speed.  This run was going to be tough thanks to me pushing it back to try and avoid the horrible heat we have had this week.  I was kind of nervous to go out at dark, especially if it was too hot to take Stella too.  AND there was the wind.  14-20 mph out of the south, south east.  I ended up putting my big girl panties on and heading out with Stella in tow and my headlamp.  While it wasn't the ideal run ( 2 miles directly into that sustained wind, I finished, ending with almost 9.5 miles.  The 2 miles into the wind were my slowest, but managed to stay in the low 10:20s.  I managed a 10:15 on my 3 mile segment, a 10:23 on the 2 miles directly into the wind, and a 10:18 for my last two mile segment.  Of course I couldn't sit up and enjoy it, as it was 10:00 by the time i got home so a quick chocolate milk and shower were all I got to celebrate with before hitting the hay.  9.43 miles total.

Thursday:another rest day.  Yeah, I know, I need to do strength but I just felt exhausted and hungry and I gave in to my lazies.  Boo.

Friday:Recovery run.  Was suppose to do 5.  Headed out with storms to the south and the radar promising that they would stay to the south.  While I never had any rain, the clouds crept closer and closer and the lightening got brighter and brighter.  It was enough to convince me to head back after a little over 2 miles and stay safe. I think I ended up with 4.4 miles total.  Deuce ran with me and someone was NOT happy she got left at home.  

Saturday: 20 miles.  See recap here.

Sunday: Strength

Bring on the taper craziness!