1/2 Mary PR

I skipped the Lake Geneva 1/2 Marathon 3 weeks ago. VQ was having a transition clinic so I felt that would be a better use of my time. The clinic was interesting. We rode up to Fort Sheridan and did some race pace work with a few transitions. I wish we'd actually done less race pace and just kept doing transitions over and over again. But there were too many people and shoes and equipment were piled up at the few racks they had. But it was still a fun group workout. Riding through Wilmette along Sheridan Rd. was really beautiful. It's and area I hadn't been to before. So the following weekend I felt like I needed a nice long run. It was the end of a heavy volume week for me leading into a rest week. I choose to run on the limestone bike path near Lakewood Forest Preserve. Heading north to Singing Hills Forest Preserve and back is a nice 14 mile loop. I wasn't feeling all that great to begin with but after a few miles I was in a groove. By the time I hit Singing Hills and turned around I realized I was on pace for a 1/2 marathon PR. I picked up the pace even more leaning into the wind when it hit me. Most areas of the trail were around housing developments and the wind was much less in those areas. I was feeling real good about the intensity of the effort. It wasn't until the last 2 miles that I started to fatigue. But knowing a PR was within reach was enough to carry me through. Granted this was only a training run but unofficially I dropped my 1/2 mary PR by almost 7 minutes. I eased up and jogged a nice cool down the rest of the way back to the car. Now if I can just find a way to carry that pace through the marathon at the end of Ironman Wisconsin. Maybe someday.