Seriously, both your performance in Chicago in that heat and this thread in general have been very inspiring and productive for me. Some days when I don't feel like running I just think about not being able to post in this thread and the peer pressure makes me go out and do it. Funny how that works.

You were absolutely right. Pushing myself, getting rid of the "junk" miles, making every workout count towards something (be it recovery, tempo, hills, distance, whatever) has really helped to make me faster. It's very cool to be able to look back in this thread and see where I was a year or two ago and how far I've come. How far we've all come really!

Good stuff.

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Now, as for today, that race yesterday took a lot out of me. I woke up this morning with a sore lower back which sometimes happens when I run hard (maybe my form changes?). Undoubtedly running outside after so much treadmill time probably contributed.

Consequently I took it very easy for my recovery run today, doing 3 miles at 8:00 pace on the treadmill.

Before that I worked the biceps, triceps and chest with dumbbell work. Gonna try and get some good weight work in this week since we are going to Hawaii next week. I'll be able to do some light running there but certainly no weights. It'll be nice to take some time off from the weights and let my muscles recover. I haven't taken a full week off from weight training since November. That's probably not a good thing, eh?