July and August Ramp

For the last two months, I've been building my mileage and training with one goal in mind: the Moscow Marathon.

The race is September 20th. Sasha and I leave on the 16th with the attempt to get a little extra cushion for me to adjust to the time difference. The trip will be amazing - Moscow, St Petersburg, Veronezh, and Antalya, Turkey to top things off.

I'm essentially trying to mimic last year's Berlin training. In the end, this will be giving me roughly 17 weeks and nearly 1100 miles.

The one stark difference that I'll have between Moscow and Berlin: Last year, I was coming off an injury that lasted nearly 5 months and damaged my first half of the year. This year, I've been solid as a rock and running all year long. I'm also on the heels of a stellar Soldier Field 10 Miler.

July and August Races:

7/9 - Bastille Day 8K (27:50)... Ran it as a tempo run. It was after some of my lightest mileage of the year in June, and somewhat of a kick start to my training. By some miracle, I nearly won it as the leader was a bandit and dropped out... until of course, Jason Ream out kicked me with about 200m to go. My legs were shot at that point. Oh well.  (Thanks for the early birthday present, Jason!!)

8/9 - Northwestern's Run for Walk 4.1Mi (22:17)... It was a pleasant surprise after a 23 miler the day before. Hot and humid. I ran a steady 5:30ish throughout the race, with a slight negative split. Technically this was my 4Mi PR, to boot!

ADK Recap:

Prior to going up to the cabin this year, I was sitting on four solid weeks at 80+ miles, and I topped 104 miles in 7-days before leaving. I also had two-20 mile runs and two-23 mile runs.

I got back last night. Short answer: I didn't get the mileage up there that I wanted, which was disappointing... but it wasn't a bad thing. I was up there for 12 days and had to take four of them off. Fortunately, it wasn't due to any sort of injury... and I'm returning to Chicago feeling good for one final push.

For starters, I missed my Philadelphia-connecting flight to Watertown, so that literally blew a key running day. It was fucking bullshit (my bag even made the connection!!!), and I was pissed, but there was nothing I could do. If I had my bag, I could've at least gotten one or even two runs at the hotel. Anyway, in that first week, I still managed to get a 14 miler and 20 miler (only 50 mi on the week though!). I was then sidelined/distracted as three of my college friends came visit and we wound up camping on Stillwater for three days and two nights. There wasn't much I could do about that one either, aside from have a few beers, relax, and enjoy catching up with one another. It was time well spent.

After that, I built back up to get 77 miles in six days. I had two solid progression runs and capped it off with a big-boy 25 miler that felt very strong. I've never run 25 miles in a training run, much less in the Adirondacks. I was actually tempted to tag the 26.2, but I'm glad I didn't. It would've cost more than I was willing to pay and potentially held me back going forward.

And on that note, I'll be above 100 miles again this week. If it works out right, I'll get a 7-day high mileage PR. At this point, I feel strong. I'm not sure how fast I am since I'm just getting back from the mountains, but I'll have the chance to test my mettle at this coming weekend's Buffalo Grove 10K.

I'm three weeks from race day, and I'm going to make the most of them.

Because sometimes it's not all about running: