Week 10 of Boston Training: which makes this the longest training cycle in years.

At this point in my last few Marathon training cycles I have trained, tapered and raced. The fact that I am still in training, and hard training at that truly boggles the mind.
...And is SO AWESOME.
I fucking love Spring training, the weather has been right at that point between miserable and slightly better than miserable which is the best running weather out there.
*****I am not lying so quit scoffing******

This week was a real and legitimate ass kicker. Last week's suffering payed off in decent gains in fitness and general badassery.
Once again I compare running to riding, lots of structured work where you suffer a bit followed by some REALLY awesome runs/rides which remind you why you do what you do.

Monday: The typical Hill work in 37 degree temps and some of the highest winds I have run in all season.
Right from the start this was an incredible run. Fast, less effort, just KILLING it.
Next week will bring the same, or very similar route with a slightly easier pace.
This happened to be the best run I have ever had on this route- hello to my skillz. Don't leave.

Smirking about my hill skill

Tuesday: Some easy outdoor miles. It was still windy. What the hell....

Wednesday: Speed work. I had 5x1 mile repeats on the to do list with instructions to "run absurdly fast." Well, that I did. Yipes. It was also just freezing and for some reason I wore shorts. My legs were so damn cold that it was a little icky and I felt like a dodo.

SO RED SO COLD

It seems that all my repeats were very close to the same pace which puts them in the 7:10 range which is absolutely friggin ridiculous.

TOO FAST!! But not actually too fast...

I was putting in a concerted effort to go into the weekend tired, completely worn down. Hence, the ultra turbo hard workout.

Done. Happy. Cold. Old.

Thursday: 3 miles easy, 4 miles controlled base, 1 mile straight uphill back home. I expected my legs to be completely useless and smoked after the 10k pace mile repeats. I was wrong, they were just fine and dandy. As previously mentioned, this good week was just payback for last week being a bit gross and wretched. It's just how things work. And again, it was NOT warm.

Cold. And my car is like REALLY dusty. Gross.

An exciting thing happened. In addition to being back in the blog world Danielle also joined Strava which is so fun! It's like 2012 again back in the day when she was the queen of the internets. She is making a comeback and now we can compare training notes online and give each other "thumbs up" which are critical things in a good training cycle.

Lying, she actually runs a ton more than I do!

Friday: Off and good thing. I was finally tired and starving hungry and the weather was horrible and I had to go to the optometrist which isn't my favorite. So I rested while being busy....

Shit weather

Saturday: Eastern States 20, which I already yammered on and on about. Good times.

Sunday: REST DAYYYY
I like to rest cuddled up to an ice cream the size of my head. 

YUM

It was A REALLY GOOD WEEK.
And kids, on the off chance that you missed the memo we are getting pretty damn close to race day. I, personally have one more week of hard work and then I taper. I have enjoyed training so much that this makes me a little sad but there's always more miles later! 

Miles: 53 and change, I don't remember the oh-point-whatevers
Favorite TV: NO TM RUNS!!! But in real life, Criminal Minds
Favorite beer: I had a terrible beer drinking week... I had nothing good or exciting!
Low temp: Ugh on Thursday it was 26 and then it stayed 26 all damn dayyyyyy
High temp- 50 on Saturday (which I missed, it was 43 on the coast)
Favorite food: I actually prepped some meals in advance so we had (well, I had) some steak and fresh kale from my Dad's garden. I also made peanut noodles which were soooooo good! My Mom made an incredible pizza and a whole turkey because she knows how I get.... And she still takes good care of me which I totally require because #helpless