July 25th

Today, I felt absolutely horrible. I was incredibly tired and had no motivation to run. I was coughing, my legs were sore, and I felt like I was breathing heavier than I should have been just when I was sitting around the house. The plan was to meet Matt for a run @ 6 pm for 19 miles at Waterfall Glen Trail, but I doubted I had 19 miles in me.

Btw, we were supposed to be doing a 10 mile race the following day on this course, but we were late to register.

PM: I was considering doing just one 9.5 mile loop throughout the entire drive to the Waterfall Glen, but arrived at 4:42, just enough time to be back to meet up with Matt. I took off, running at 7:00 pace for the first couple miles. I took it back a bit when I reached the hills(miles 2.5-5), but was able to keep at a decent pace. I felt a little tired over the hills, but once I was on level surfaces, I was able to pick up the pace again. I was drinking a little bit(not enough, but what can you expect). I finished the loop strong at exactly 6:00(my watch beeped as I entered the parking lot), meaning that the first lap was run in 1:10.

I was expecting Matt to be there, which would really carry me through the last loop, considering I ran the first half of my long run at a pace faster than I run at this distance. Unfortunately, there was confusion and Matt could not make it. I was definitely disappointed, but started running again.

The second loop was quite smooth. The minor joint pain that I had after the first loop was gone. I was probably running closer to 7:15 - 7:30 miles, but that was fine with me. The hills went well, I was able to run them without much problem. I felt a little tightness in the IT after the last hills with about 4 miles to go, but pulled over to stretch for a minute and felt fine for the rest of the way. The quads were pretty sore, but that was it. Breathing was fine and I did not feel tired like I usually do after a long run. I slowed down a tad bit during the last 2 miles, but finished strong in 1:15 for the lap, 2:25 total. Not bad for no salt/calories, just two bottles of water.

I don't think I could have been happier with the way this run turned out. I expected it to be nothing other than a disaster, but things really turned out for the best. This was one of my best training runs ever and I felt like shit beforehand. I am starting to feel very good about Chicago and am becoming more confident about a 2:50. I think that as long as I work on speed and get in some important long runs than I will be good. The most important thing about Chicago will be starting off easy and getting into a rhythm. If I can get into a rhythm, I am certain that I will end up with a good time.

Over the past 7 days, I have run over 70 miles and my weekly total is at 56.7. Hopefully, I will be able to consistenly log 60+ miles a week from here until taper time. My one concern is that my legs may not hold up. I'm going to try to level off training for a while and see how I feel. Wish me luck!