The Mini-Taper Has Begun

I was invited to attend a downtown Chicago bus tour and fancy dinner last night with a group of co-workers. We saw the city on a roofless bus with an annoying MC and then ate on the 70th floor at Cite restaurant on top of the tower right in front of Navy Pier.

Both events took way longer than planned, especially the dinner (great view, high prices and poor service), and I didn't get back home until 11:30 last night, since I was beat and needed to sleep in a little. This required me to adjust my schedule. I'm pretty good at the adjustment routine and made up the mileage at lunch and this evening.

Bottom line is that I am right on track this week. I had a solid 6x600m workout early yesterday morn, in which I ran the repeats in the 2:12-2:15 range (5:50-6:00 pace) and 90 sec of rest (per Pfitzinger. I did this without much problem. Don't get me wrong, it was difficult, especially with this week's killer humidity. But I got it done.

This makes me feel like I can run that 18:45 5k right about now, despite a recent 19:20. I have dropped 5 pounds since then and run a ton of quality miles. I think I will work in some Yasso's later in the program.

I capped off 33 miles in three days with a strong 7-miler tonight. I flirted with MP for 4 of the miles and it felt pretty good. Under 50 minutes - about 7:08 pace. Keep in mind the temps were still high - and I was running on tired legs. 14 today total.

Here's the stat of the week: I typically count my weeks Mon to Sun. But if you count the last 4 days of last week, I have run 70 miles in 7 straight days. Think it may be a personal best. If you count this coming Sunday's race, the plan is to run 84 miles in 7 straight days next week. Wow, this is getting ridiculous.

Now the mini-taper for Sunday's half begins. I will rest entirely tomorrow. Run an easy 5-6 recovery on Friday. Then rest again entirely on Saturday. I'll be ready to rock the CDC on Sun.

Week to date mileage

Mon 8/6 - 10 miles - 7:50 avg pace - very humid/uncomfortable
Tue 8/7 - AM speed work - 2 miles w/u + 6x600m rep + 4 miles easy = 9 miles total
Wed 8/8 - 12 Noon treadmill - 7 miles recovery + gen aer = 58:00 (8:15 avg pace). 8PM - 7 miles strong - 49:59 (7:08 avg pace). 14 total for the day.

WTD Mileage: 33

Rest of week plan

Thu 8/9 - Rest
Fri 8/10 - 6 miles recovery - pick up race packet
Sat 8/11 - Rest
Sun 8/12 - Warm-up + RACE 13.1