“What’s up with that chick who thinks she has a running blog but hasn’t posted in almost a week?”

That’s totally what you’re thinking, I know.

Sorry for my absence as of late. Actually, I’m not really sorry because I’ve been doing some fun things that have kept me away from the computer for nearly 4 days. And I’ve loved it.

So… sorry, I’m not sorry.

To give you the quick-and-dirty update, I left with BF on a jet plane last Friday morning for a lovely little vacation to our hometown of Colorado Springs. But more on that in a bit…

For now, Chi-town training week #2!

M: Rest

T: 10 m/8:30 avg. pace + lifting

W: Body pump class + spin

T: 7 m “tempo” run, 3m at <7:50 + yoga

F: Rest (lazy)

S: 13 m/8:45 avg. pace

S: 7.5 m recovery run/9:00 avg. pace

This was a cutback week (which correlated beautifully with the altitude in CO inhibiting my ability to breathe), and I ended with a total of 34.5 miles for the week. Not much down from last week, but I like not adding heavily back to back to back. Which means 18 is coming up this weekend…..yea…..

Now, back to the reason why I’ve been MIA.

I was in Colorado for 4 beautiful days, doing lots of fun things but mainly enjoying being home with my family. BF and I went to a wedding and an OAR concert at Redrocks, and if you know where that is you know it’s a good time. Basically, it’s an enormous outdoor amphitheater made up of really cool red rock. Like, obviously.

Here are some select photos from said Colorado vacation:

 

I always get nervous to run in Colorado. When you go from sea level to running at over 6,000 feet, scary things can happen to your lungs, heart rate, and muscles. Luckily, I was able to pump out a long run without too many issues, and I got reacquainted with the feeling of dripping with sweat after running. Both runs in CO were done in 80 degree morning heat, which added some pizzazz to the already compromising altitude conditions.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger I suppose. And plus, Chicago has been known to be hot in the past few years on marathon day…better to get used to it now.

In other news, I started a new job today! Which is definitely exciting, and I’ll give some details soon, however for now I just need to get used to a new daily schedule…including a significantly earlier running time. Which will get rough at some point, but with this as my wake up call, I think I’ll survive:

I hope your week is going great, and because I would love to hear from some of you out there…

Have you ever run at altitude? Are you training for anything right now? Running in the heat…love it or hate it?