This past week was the most painful week of training. I am thankful to still be injury-free, but my body definitely felt a bit off this week. It is always my right hamstring/hip/glute that begin to flare up once I hit a certain mileage. This has been the case since collegiate running. I know the little exercises I can do to help keep it from becoming anything bigger. I am doing those and praying that my body can hold it together for another 2.5 weeks. Almost there!!

Mileage: 47 miles spread across 5 days. Since I’ve been feeling not great, we decided to not hit or go above 50 again. It is definitely smart to listen to my body and not push mileage just to say I hit a certain amount. I really learned this training cycle that adjusting intensity and mileage for my current life stage was really important.

Cross-Training: This week on the bike, I literally started crying at the end of the ride. And they were not happy tears. I was feeling frustrated that even on the bike I was struggling to get my power output high. I felt so exhausted and emotional. So I cried and moved on, but thankfully the next day I finally got an encouraging workout.

Workout: 2 x 2 mile @ 6:20 pace with mile recovery in-between. And .5 mile hard (5:30 pace). I was so happy to finally run faster than the paces given and for it to feel good. The .5 mile was exactly a 2:45 and the 2 miles were well under the 6:20 pace. After a handful of not so great workouts, this workout definitely was a much needed encouragement!

Long Run: 21 miles! Last major long run. I did an out and back course again and got to run a good 10 miles with a friend, which helped break up this long run. I was pretty tired/sluggish so it was super helpful to have a distraction and get lost in conversion. My watch stopped working in the middle (I had to clear data on the app). Thankfully I had my Strava going, and based on this, I ran 21 miles even though I thought I did 10 miles out. 21 sounds even more intense so going with that. I fueled with 3 100 Maurten gels, but it honestly didn’t feel like enough.