Swim, bike, run... Oh My!: Week 17: Believe in yourself & you will be unstoppable

Back on track with my Chicago training. Last week and next week I have rearranged the plan in order to line up my 20 miler. This week was originally a back-off week to recovery from the 20 miler in the previous week.

Last weeks plan was the following:

Day: Plan Actual Comments

Monday: 30 Minute Run 54 minutes 5 miles 10:49 pace, training session

Tuesday: 2x15/3min rec 2x15/3min 4.5 miles

Wednesday: Cross Train Off

Thursday: 60 Minute Run 51:20 minute 5.0 miles 10:12 pace

Friday: Off 59:00 5.0 miles 11:40 pace

Saturday: XT Ocean Swim

Sunday: 16 miles 20.2 miles 12:21 pace

Overall, this was a motivated week. Excited to break 100 mile training month again (2 months in a row) and just felt pretty good with my runs the entire week.

Monday’s recovery run was great, right hamstring (behind knee) kicked in around mile 3.5 but pushed through. It was really tight after the run. Ended the night with a training session. Lots of stretching, and some strength that night.

Monday Recovery 5 miler

Tuesday Track night. I thought I had 3x15 minutes, and was so happy when coach Mark told me to cool down after 2 sets. I didn’t argue because my hamstring was still super tight from the night before and a rest would be good. Ended up pushing my pace for each set.

Tuesday - SBRC Track Night

Thursday was SBRC run from Sketchers which involved the wood chips, rosecrans and the strand. Ended up with good pace, and felt good the entire run.

Thursday Night - SBRC Run

Friday, went for a nice easy run. Didn’t feel like I was up for to many hills. Ended up meeting up with Erica and Baby K for a good 5 mile run around the neighborhood. Felt tired but other than that alright.

Friday night 5 miler with Erica and Kaiden

Saturday, was an off day. But I did to a Ocean Swim private lesson. (I have a major fear of the open ocean with waves). Got a lot of great tips from Coach Bryan and managed to get out past the break without panicking and back in (twice). Still will need to practice to continue working on conquering my fears.

Sunday was my first 20 miler of the training run. I am still struggling with the mental training needed for the long runs. I have put in the training and the effort, but still struggle to put it altogether on a long run. This run, started out well, had a great pace the first 8 miles, but then started feeling the mental stress of the run and ended up switching to run walk. At mile 9 stopped to get a nice and cold water, and ended up picking up watermelon too. Decided I was good taking a hit on my time and walk and enjoy the watermelon. I took advil before the run and that seemed to help alleviate any foot pain on the run. I just need to believe in myself and trust the training and I will become unstoppable.