We are officially under 90 days from the Las Vegas Strip at Night Marathon! Wooohhooooo. This week of training had several low-points, but I honestly feel that those struggles make us stronger when we get to the finish line. If we're able to push through them, then it makes it THAT much easier to push through a little "marathon" pain (well, it's not SO little and it's actually pretty painful, but I'll keep telling myself that ;) ). 

I did 43.5 miles this week (I was planning on doing 47, but unforeseen circumstances I let those extra 3.5 miles slide :) ) and totally nailed my tempo workout outside! This was a HUGE confidence booster, as I've never tried a goal pace run for multiple miles in a row before and I couldn't believe how easy it felt. Talk about empowering! I also switched my rest days this week because my knee was giving me some trouble on Friday, so I did a bunch of leg strengthening exercises and iced it and it's feeling better now (I'm also determined to get more strength sessions in on my own throughout the rest of the training cycle). 

Monday: 6 miles easy on the treadmill @ 9:59

Tuesday: Track Tuesday! I actually made it out on the track this week! This one was super tough and it's really HARD to stay motivated to keep pushing yourself when you are pretty exhausted towards the end of the repeats. 7 miles total with 1.5 warm-up; 4 x 1200 (400 Recovery between sets); 1.5 cool-down. I wanted to hit them each at 5:27, but my average was 5:33. It wasn't perfect and I did hit a few splits, but really need to continue to work on boosting my confidence when things get tough and getting my legs to turnover faster. I also did a CoreBarre class at lunch.

Wednesday: 6 miles easy outside @ 10:01. I did this one during my lunch break and it was SO nice to sleep in (well, turn-off my alarm) and get some miles in during the day. 

Thursday: 10 miles outside with 1.5 warm-up; 7 miles at 8:46 (actual: 8:47); 1.5 cool-down

Friday: Knee was achy; 30 minutes of strength training and 35 minutes on the bike

Saturday: Planned 8 miles @ 10:00 (actual: 4.5 miles @ 9:17). This one was later in the day and I was working through ALOT of emotions, so I really had a need for speed and couldn't reign it in...

Sunday: 10 miles on the treadmill @ 10:00

Sunshine Goods:

• I hit my tempo work-out pace!
• I was able to do my track workout actually on the TRACK and OUTSIDE!
• I fit in 2 strength training sessions (including CoreBarre)
• I took 3 epsom salt baths (these are my favvvorrrittee recovery method)
• 4 out of 6 runs were done outside

Gloomy Goods:

• Oh, the tiredness. Hanson's wasn't kidding when they said it'd be normal to feel achy and exhausted throughout the workout
• Knee achiness. Hoping ice, salt baths, and more strength training will ease this!
• Slight head-cold going on and loss of grandfather/ friend this past week...