Standing with the fury that they had in '66

The hourglass for the marathon was flipped this week. Sand stops for no one, so avoid keeping your eyes on it. 

If I had to choose a singlet design for race day, it would be inspired from something like this: 

And from this!

Anyway, 

Week 18-till began with brutality:

Sunday:
1 mile easy + 6 miles @ marathon pace + 1 mile easy + 5 x 2km with 2/min. rest + 1.5 mile easy. 

Total: 16 miles. 

First marathon workout of a 3-week cycle accompanied by El Chaparro & El Guero. To have people just excited for an ass-beating like you is a privilege. Lost contact with Guero around mile 5 of the workout so from there to the finish was solo effort. Properly fueled this time so I didn't crash like the week prior. Thankful for the cloudy weather. Overall felt good!

Monday:

AM: Easy 5

Legs were so sore. Through the Lakewood hills with Abigail.

PM: Strength workout

Tuesday:

7 miles + strides 

More Lakewood hills with Abigail.

Wednesday

AM: 5 miles

Dark humid morning. Abigail joined me on the latter part of the run. 

PM: 2 miles easy + 4 x 1 mile w/ 1 min. rest. + 1 mile easy

First time doing a workout with morning miles under the engine. Wasn't sure what to expect, but did notice legs were completely dead at the warm-up. Surprisingly, once I got the workout started it was just a matter of controlling the threshold effort to the finish. Originally planned for 5 x 1 mile, but had to cut it do 4 =(

Thursday

Rest

Friday

AM: 5.5 miles

Hilly route. 

PM: 3 miles + strides

Saturday

5 miles

Swangin', 

El Mil Colores

Thunder! lightning! enmascarao' te dejamo' en parking

 Good God! My quads are diminished today. Merely walking from my bedroom to the kitchen and onto my bar stool was unnecessarily difficult. Sitting here, my stomach is begging for lunch already, and from the looks of it, I may have to make a run to the grocer's. Yikes.

 About a week ago I phoned El Guero to discuss workout plans for Sunday (today) and the consensus was to introduce longer reps at marathon pace every 3 weeks, and thus, today's allocation was 14 miles with 6km @ marathon pace, 1km recovery and 5km @ marathon pace inside the distance.  

Not bad given that I was hovering around 10-12 miles on Sundays!

Starting on the 11th of August, I'll begin my official preparations for the marathon. Summer humidity is proving to be a significant opponent on top of the required training, so I'll be assessing quality week-by-week. 

Closing the laptop for now. Might hop back on for some playful Sunday data analytics. Or not. Today is one of the rare days where I have the chance to sit and watch some k-drama, so I may make bigger efforts to catch up on It's Okay to Not Be Okay. 

Been sturdy, 

E

Far From The Boldest // Hope You Don't Notice

Some Chicago rap
MFnMelo - Notice

The start of Day 2 began rather late. After falling sick a few weeks ago, and what I suspect might have been covid, my slumbers have strayed far from the norm. Brain activity doesn't seem to decline until 2-3AM and that night was no different. Not to mention, running in general lately feels like I'm running on 10/100 health points, despite the low intensity. So while I had the full intention of exploring the city further through a brisk promenade at an early morning, I sadly missed all 4 of my alarms.

With 20 weeks left until the marathon, my urgency to exceed expectations is low right now. 

Landing in a new geography offers the opportunity to lurk through literary rubble, an adventure made all the more enchanting by the company of my equally enthused sisters. We arrived at Damen station -possibly one of the most charming train stations I've ever encountered - and there, we arrived to this quaint bookstore. 

Adelante!

Books acquired:

Zadie Smith - Intimations

Alfredo Echenique - Guía triste de Paris

Maya Angelou - Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now

Asa Barber - Tranquility Base and other stories

 

Ramen during a thunderstorm was brilliantly suggested by my younger sister. What you see here is a bowl with a volume surely to put you in a food coma if you don't adequately measure yourself throughout the day. Fuck it!

Ha det,

Mil Colores