Training week 17: 3 weeks till chicago. Taper, maybe?

Well, I thought my taper would start after my 20 miler but my coach had other ideas.  Here is how the week turned out.

Monday: planned 3 x 2 mile repeats with a mile warm up and 0.5 mile cool down.  What happened: hip was tight and sore during warm up, and pain in my left leg started and continued through warm up.  Took off compression sleeve thinking that might make it feel better.  It did, but there was NO speed work in these legs.  In fact, there wasn't even 8 miles in these legs.  I settled for 6 with walking interspersed.  Came home and did an ice bath on my leg immediately.  I don't mess around with pain and certainly not this close to the big date.  6 easy peasy miles

Tuesday: A much needed off night.  I hate not doing things when the weather is SO nice, but this was the last night of soccer.  

Wednesday: Planned was a 9 mile progression run.  Each mile would get faster by 10 seconds.  I was so looking forward to this run.  I know, weird right.  I love different types of work outs, and i haven't done a progression run in a long time.  What actually happened: an 8 mile easy paced run thanks to my leg.  While it didn't hurt during my run, it pretty much hurt all day during the day. 

What is so odd (other than the fact that his helicopter circled us the whole time we were running and then landed right next to us) is that my leg had zero pain during the run, and I actually felt like I could do the run as prescribed.  My very speedy, very wise running pal Mel held me back and said nope.  8 miles of rain, helicopters and good music.

Thursday: Strength

Friday:  Planned 4 mile recovery run.  What happened: No run.  Decided while the pain is much better in my leg, another day off from running wouldn't hurt.  Honestly, if I wasn't volunteering for the Konquer the Konza on Sunday and needed to be there so early, I would have just moved my long run till Sunday.  At this point, rest is a good thing and junk miles don't help anything other than prolong healing.

Saturday: 14 mile long run with some race pace segments built in.  What happened: Lots of things I haven't experienced in a long time like an upset tummy, my right hip having severe cramps at mile 12 and making me walk for a while, and me wanting to quit multiple times.  I ended up at around 13.5 miles when I passed the house and i just threw in the towel.  I seriously feel like an old woman right now.  We did complete our virtual half marathon so there is that.

This was a fun virtual to do with a super cute tech shirt and medal with a doggy on it.  I printed the bib and put stella's name on it instead of mine.  I LOVE doing virtual races that benefit dogs or activities with dogs.  

Sunday:Strength and volunteering for Konquer the Konza 25 K and 10 k race (will probably post a recap even though I am not running this year).  

Total miles this week: Not as many as i was suppose to but eeked out 27.

After talking to my coach, I know this is normal, but I hate that I feel so tired and so out of it when I am getting a ton more sleep lately.  I am ready for the taper to do it's magic and heal me.  I am also looking forward to my trip to Body First to get some help on getting the kinks out.  To be continued till next week:)