Aesthete Runner

The last Trail Tuesday of November and ironically it is almost 60 degrees outside. Unfortunately the main trail I run on is flooded due to heavy rain, but here are some pictures from my weekend adventures:

It is week 3 of Hansons Base Building plan and I think I am finally getting the hang of this. With more familiarity of the various runs, I really enjoyed this week and could tell a difference in my overall speed. Here was my plan for the week:

Happy Thanksgiving! It should come as no surprise that today's Oiselle Rungiving challenge is "Thank". The prompt is: I am thankful for...

Today's Oiselle Rungiving challenge is about reflection. The prompt is: Write about something you did to make yourself proud. 

I knew winter was coming, but it finally hit Chicago last week. However, it is only cold if you are standing still so I bundled up and headed out. Amazingly there is still a lot of green popping through the dead leaves and the red maple leaves are the last to hang on.

Time to check in on the second week of my Hansons base building program. This week definitely did not go as planned in terms of the scheduled runs, but I still found it interesting and challenging. Here is what I completed this week: Monday: Jasyoga - Run your core Tuesday: 5 miles easy, Jasyoga - post workout recovery Wednesday: 4 mile progression run with 1 mile warm up/cool down Thursday:  1 mile hike Friday:  .5 mile run, Iron Strength workout, Jasyoga - Side body reset Saturday:  6 miles easy Sunday:  10 miles long, Jasyoga - Cool It Total Miles: 25.77

This week's Trail Tuesday is probably the last week of autumnal splendor as most of the leaves are now on the ground. Thankfully the weather is still so nice for running and I have no plans to avoid the trails any time soon.

This was my first week of the 8 week Hansons base building custom plan I purchases from Final Surge . I purchased the lowest mileage plan which was 40 miles per week, however I altered it to lower the mileage slightly as I did not want to jump right into a 40 mile week when I have been running about half of that. I achieved this by shortening the miles prior to and after a workout but not the actual run itself. Previously I discussed wanting to maintain my marathon fitness between now and my next race in January and this plan seemed like the best option rather than trying to repeat some of the Hansons Half Marathon plan into a shortened time period.

“After I greeted a group of young men who were hanging out next to the running trail, one said to the rest, ‘Let’s gang rape her,’ as I ran past. The other boys laughed.” —Shannon, 30, Parker, Colorado Part of being a runner is putting yourself out there. I know every time I enter a race or train for a race, I open myself up to failure. As someone who runs outside and in populated areas, I also open myself up to harassment as well. This is the theme of a recent Runner's World Podcast that I listened to on Sunday that made me incredibly sad.

The November weather has been practically begging me to get outside before all the leaves are on the ground. Most of the reds and oranges are gone, but the yellows make everything pop. This has been one of the best Chicago autumns in a long time. I don't want it to ever end!

Today was an exciting day, watching all the New York Marathon finishers and remembering what it felt like a month ago to cross the finish line of the Chicago Marathon. This week marked the last week of my so-called recovery break and I have to say, I really enjoyed having some time off from training. It felt good to run whatever distance I felt like on a particular day, and to explore some new trails and locations not knowing what my mileage would be.

It's November! The weather is still warm in Chicago and I am looking forward to hitting the trails as much as possible. October was a pretty spectacular month for fall splendor on the trails, and I really enjoyed finding some new paths to run.