Time to get serious!

Again, many apologies for not updating my blog. It’s been a hectic three weeks! Right after I wrote my last blog I got a super bad cold. It sidelined me for 4 days! Of course, I was not able to run 60+ miles that week. I only did 40. It took me a few days to regain my strength. I did 54 miles last week including a 2x20 min. tempo and a long run of 20 miles in DC. I felt good in the long run. I was not very fast because my primary objective was to log a long run. I did not care if it was in the low or high 8’s at all. I just wanted to go out there, enjoy DC, and regain confidence in my endurance.
The Chicago Marathon is in less than 5 weeks so it’s time to get very serious with my training schedule and my diet. I have done two fantastic runs this week. I did 9 easy miles on Monday. On Tuesday, I did a grueling workout that included 1hr. of easy running, 2x1 mile speed intervals, and 3x5 min tempo runs for a total of 12 miles. The idea was to run the 2x1 mile intervals fast so that I could see where my speed is. I ran fast, 6:05 and 6:09 respectively. I felt strong and fresh. This is a good signal because I did this workout with very little rest between the long run of Saturday and yesterday. I will do easy runs in the next three days as am likely to run a half marathon on Saturday (http://www.lakecitymarathon.info). The idea is to test myself in a real race. I haven’t raced since May and I need to see what my fitness level is so that I can do changes to my training if necessary. I will tell you more as soon as I make a decision about it.

Good bye for now! Happy running!