Chicago Urbanathlon Training - Week 2 and 3 Recap - 4 Days until race day

I have been so busy lately that I have not had to time to blog about my training which is so important for me to do. I know some could care less, but this forces me to stop and analyze my training. We are 4 days until race day. We finally found out the race is a total of 9.75 with obstacles and the stair obstacle has finally been posted. Check out this link to see the obstacles in our race(when you scroll you will see the video for the stairs) 

Back to the training
When I last left off I had finished a 51 minute tempo run last Wednesday. I took a rest day on Thursday as I was pushing hard three days in a row so I did nothing on Thursday. I know rest is so important, but I felt so sloppy all day without any exercise. My body needed a rest and therefore was good. Friday I ran with Mr. Shepperd and ran a new course. We ended up running 3.85 miles in 29 minutes for a 7:40 mile pace. This time makes me happy, but you have no idea the amount of hills we ran on this course. I feel like as soon as we finished one hill we were taking up another. This was a challenging run, but a good one to throw into the mix.

Saturday, I ran my last long run prior to the race. I was set out for a 100 minute run and ended up running 90 minutes. I started off slow with a 9:07 mile pace and my goal from this point out was to work on increasing my time each mile like you are supposed to do in a race. My next mile was 8:30, then 8:15, 8:28, 8:24, 8:20, 8:01, 7:53, 7:57, 7:57, 7:43, 7:12. I ran 11.2 miles in 1:32 for an 8:13 mile pace. I was quite happy with this pace and hope this is what I can sustain at the race. I am not sure how the obstacles will affect my endurance, but time will tell.

This morning I set off on an easy 3 mile run. I took off that way with a 8:22 mile pace, but quickly decided to push myself this morning knowing I am going to do little to nothing the next few days. I ran a 7:14 second mile and a 6:48 third mile finishing the 3 miles in 22 minutes. I felt good which surprised me based on how tired and sluggish I have felt the last couple days.

At this point I will taper my workouts. I might do one slow easy run tomorrow, but then that will be it to allow my body proper rest. We leave for Chicago Friday and start the race at 7:45 Saturday morning. I feel ready and just hope my body has one more race left to show good numbers. I have had a great first year in running races and want to end on a good note.