Hello hello. Slightly belated greetings from the end of another 40 mile week–woot woot!! Despite a shorter long run this week, I was able to top out 40.5 miles total. I actually felt really strong on my 14 mile long run despite the longer mid-week miles, so I really hope to keep this up until I start cutting back for the taper in just a few short weeks. Also, hurrah for cooler morning weather! We definitely still had a few steamy mornings this past week, but things are looking grand on the running weather front 🙂

After an absolutely nutty month of travel and life events and such, this weekend I took a much-needed breather and got in some chill couch time along with a solid solo long run. I love running with friends but sometimes I really appreciate going solo too, especially for the slightly shorter runs. It’s still crazy to me that I think of 14 miles as a shorter run! We also had J’s nephew in town for his 11th birthday and his first Red Sox game, which was really fun. Mama runners, I give you all of the props–having a kiddo around takes some serious energy.

By way of a shoe update, I’m pretty sure I’m sticking with the Asics GT 2000 4‘s for Chicago. Now that I’ve discovered Trail Toes for my blisters (thank you times 100000 to HoHo Runs for this incredible recommendation), I realized I otherwise really love these shoes. I have extremely narrow feet so my shoe choice is somewhat limited to the few companies that make running sneaks in widths, and this version of the Asics shoe is actually cut even more narrow than usual.

I got a second chance to try out a treadmill class at HHRC Cambridge on Thursday–I’ll always prefer an outdoor workout, but it’s a great way to get hills/speed done in a cooler environment with fun coaching and music. This is actually my second stab at indoor treadmill classes, so keep an eye out for a post about them in the near future. Last but not least, I switched up to a faster pace group for this morning’s track workout and man, it was killer! It was interesting to really push myself to my max speed and effort–I definitely ended our 400s completely out of breath. It’s cool to see what I’m capable of, although I may take it a little bit easier heading into pre-marathon month. Full recap below:

Week 12:

• Tuesday: 6 mile tempo run, 7:54 average
• Wednesday: 4 easy miles
• Thursday: 6.4 miles total with treadmill hills at HHRC
• Friday: 3.9 recovery miles at 8:56
• Saturday: 14 miles at 8:22
• Sunday: 90 minute yoga and an easy hike with J
• Monday: 4 easy miles, 6 strides
• Tuesday: Track! 5.2 total miles, speedwork at 5:40 (OOF)

Thursday I’m back at it with the gals for a slow and steady 3 hour timed run, and then I’m officially registered for the Lake Auburn Half Marathon on 9/11. Happy almost Labor Day, friends–enjoy those last few moments of summer!!

Linking up with The Weekly Wrap, hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin and with Patty, Erika, and Marcia for Tuesdays on the run!