Until this week, training for the Chicago Marathon has been flawless. It’s been smooth runs and smooth rides thought the Arizona summer.
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| Stopped briefly at Ethel’s Garden in Silverleaf to admire the day |
Unfortunately, that came to a crashing end on Sunday. It was long run Sunday with a 20-miler on the cards. It was a nice overcast day with a soft breeze. It wasn’t hot. At around 9AM, it even started to drizzle. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I love to run in the rain! Instead of running the entire 20 miles on the treadmill, I decided to split it up and run the first few miles outdoors.
I parked at The Village and set out thinking I’ll do about 5 miles outdoors before switching to the treadmill. I felt good and extended my run to just under 8 miles. My heartrate was nice and easy for the first 5 miles but started to flirt up and up and up all the way into level 3 by the time I finished.
The treadmill felt hard from the get-go. It was slow and laborious. Instead of running 12+ miles to complete my 20-miler, I stopped after about 7 miles and then ran on for another 4 before I called it quits. I had bonked. I felt awful. I can blame nutrition, lack of sleep, lack of heartrate management, even a scorpion; but whatever…I bonked. Oh well…
Earlier in the week, I stepped on a scorpion inside the house. You can see his stinger in the picture; but fortunately he didn’t sting me. I suppose I can blame my awful Sunday run on the scorpion but that would be like Trump blaming Obama for the ISIS problem!
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| Scorpion – I accidentally stepped on it! |
Earlier in the week, I ran hard intervals and a few other sessions smoothly:
- Monday, August 14: Rest Day
- Tuesday, August 15: Easy Run | 6.5 miles | 54:37 mins | Treadmill (The Village)
- Wednesday, August 16: Rest Day
- Thursday, August 17: Fartlek Interval Run | 10.6 miles | 1:28 hours | Treadmill (The Village)
- Friday, August 18: Rest Day
- Saturday, August 19: Easy Bike | 19 miles | 1:09 hours | N. Scottsdale (Solo)
- Sunday, August 20: Long Run | 18.5 miles | 2:37 hours | Outdoor & Treadmill (The Village)