So we hit the halfway point and now we’re getting to the home stretch before taper (but of course I’m writing this at the end of Week 10, and hitting publish in the middle of Week 11).

Week 7:

Monday 2/7: Rest day

Tuesday 2/8: Tough workout with time at steady state/close to goal HMP. 8.67 miles total

Wednesday 2/9: 3 miles recovery treadmill, upper body lifting day

Thursday 2/10: 5 miles easy on the Woodway. Can you tell I’m just hopping on the tread because I’m so sick of winter? Lower body lifting after.

Friday 2/11: Rest day. Had planned to get my long run done early before heading upstate with friends, but made more sense to do Sunday LR.

Saturday 2/12: 3 miles easy upstate with a friend

Sunday 2/13: 2 hours 20 minutes of running for 12.61 miles. My longest run since the marathon. I did a mix of treadmill and outside again, which I really like.

Total: 32 miles

Week 8:

Monday 2/14: Rest day

Tuesday 2/15: Moved my hard workout because I still wasn’t feeling recovered; did 4 easy treadmill miles.

Wednesday 2/16: Skipped the workout because my calf was still super tight.

Thursday 2/17: 6 miles on the East River because the weather was warm and incredible. Went faster than normal.

Friday 2/18: Rest day

Saturday 2/19: 3.25 mile shakeout with strides.

Sunday 2/20: Did the Cherry Tree 10 Mile race in Prospect Park as a tuneup and it did not go super well. I did 1.5 miles warmup (had hoped for a full 2 but ran out of time).

My heart rate spiked after the first hill then barely recovered. I used the water stations as a little walk break then was still struggling up the hill after. Then at mile 7, I was chewing on a Clif Bar Block energy chew and my back rear molar crown popped off. So I had to retrieve that and tuck it away while I kept running.

Laps 1 and 2 were the warmup, then the first loop (laps 3-5) of 3.3 miles went pretty well. I slowed on lap 6 with the water stop and eating my chews, then picked it up again on that sweet downhill (9:09, really?) before trudging to the next downhill. My finish was not terrible and I was able to almost sprint it in, but my legs felt very un-springy the whole time.

Total: 25 miles out of a planned 36 or so. Womp womp.