Aesthete Runner

This is it, the final week! Race day is almost here and overall, I am feeling ready. Between checking the weather forecast hourly (alternating between rain and heat) and checking items off my to-do and packing lists, the time has flown by. 

6 days to go!! While I wouldn't say the last 17 weeks have flown by, I also can't believe that race day is finally almost here. For a long time all I could think about was just getting to the taper, and now it finally feels "real". This is happening!

I made it to the taper!!!! Week 16 was my last 50k-specific week of training, and now I have entered into the Peak Phase, or the taper. It feels really good to be here. While the taper brings all sorts of challenges of it's own, I am really ready to focus on mental and physical rest to get ready for race day.

Week 15 was a recovery week, and it couldn't have come at a better time. The 5 hour long run at the end of Week 14 really took a lot out of me and my body needed lower mileage. However, recovery week doesn't mean an easy week, and I still had two quality runs including a long hill workout to complete.

One month out from the Glacier Ridge Trail 50k! Week 14 was a big week. While the midweek runs were nothing out of the ordinary, this weekend brought my longest run yet - 5 hours. I struggled with motivation early on in the week, but seemed to find it by the week's end.

With just over a month until the Glacier Ridge 50k, I am at that critical point in training where I am tested physically and mentally. This was very evident this week which consisted of three long runs. Thankfully I survived and am all the more stronger for it.

Twelve weeks down, six weeks to go! Are we having fun yet? This was another solid week of training to add to my bank of miles. I think this mentality has helped me get through some difficult weeks, as it really does help to think of each run as a step forward towards my end goal. When I feel as if I have no motivation to run or am exhausted, I remind myself that each run does matter. I really had to draw from this toward the end of my week as I was left both physically and mentally exhausted.

A wonderful recovery week! Thankfully Week 11 was a mileage cut-back week, and while I still had hard effort runs, it felt good to have a reprieve from higher mileage and a long weekend run.

Week 8 - the last week of the Pre-50k phase and a mileage cut-back week. While I probably didn't take advantage of the cut-back as much as I should have, I enjoyed only having one long run.

I am finally through the third week of this training Pre-50k training block, and into a cut-back week again. I couldn't be happier! Week 7 was both a week of some really great runs, but also one not-so-great run. Nevertheless, it was a week of feeling humble and allowing myself to learn.

Week 3 of Glacier Ridge Trail 50k training was a solid week. Even though the weather wanted to make things difficult for me, I feel like I nailed every run and my recovery from my longer or more difficult effort runs was faster than expected. Maybe it was the sports massage I had on Wednesday, but mentally I was in a great space this week.

Another week down and I'm feeling good. It was a solid week of training that went well despite some winter weather that made it more challenging. I reminded myself a lot this week of each run's purpose in the larger picture of the entire 18 weeks.

We are now at less than 24 hours until the marathon! How quickly this week passed. My training this week was very light, with a focus on mobility, rest, and nutrition. Overall this taper was much needed after some hard weeks of training, and it is one of the first where I can say that I truly enjoyed all the extra rest.

Two weeks!! I am both excited and relieved to be over with the heaviest portion of training. It feels really great to be in the "taper" phase. There is no doubt that the warmer weather has brought about a lot of struggles in training, but I have my fingers crossed that it will be nice and cool on race day. While my overall mileage hasn't dropped significantly, I did make several adjustments to the plan to accommodate the Ragnar Trail Relay I was participating in.

...and that's a wrap on Week 13, the highest mileage week of Chicago marathon training. There are only three weeks to go, and that means it is finally time to ease into a taper. I can't believe I used to hate tapers.

I can't believe the marathon is a month away! A few weeks ago it felt like there was still a lot of time to train, but suddenly I look at my training schedule and see that it is almost time to taper. Fall is my favorite time of year, and now that the weather has started to cool off and all things pumpkin have popped up, I am ready to run in my favorite season.

I survived peak week! While there are still many more weeks of hard training, it feels good to put my biggest mileage week behind me and finish my first 20 miler of the training plan. One of the coaches notes this week was  Repeat after me: "I can do it. I will do it. I can do it. I will do it. I can do it. I will do it." Say it rhythmically and often. I sure did say this often and this was definitely a week of doing hard things and succeeding.

It turns out that a cut back week during week 10 of training is still a lot of work. The miles that were cut out of the long run were added to the mid-week runs, so I still put in a lot of time on my feet. It feels odd to say that a cut back week was only 30 miles!

9 weeks down, 7 weeks to go! Another difficult, but great week of training in the books. I think this week was more mentally challenging vs physically challenging. The hot, humid temps came back in full force, and I had to complete my very least favorite speed workout - Yasso 800s.

Finally, a great solid week of training! This past Tuesday marked 2 months until marathon day, and I was happy to start this week rested and ready to take on training. I finally recovered from my "fun" food poisoning adventure, and with the extra rest days during my camping trip, I have never felt more physically or mentally ready.