You know those super serious runners, the Calvinist ones who fly by you in a pack wearing nothing but heart rate monitors, a blinking light and those top-of-the-line pretty shoes that the store employee says are for the professionals and I can’t wear? The runners that are so focused they can’t even take a breath of their time to reply a “good morning” or a wave? Yeah. I’m not one of them.

Oh, and while I’m at it – you know the women out there wearing nothing but a sports bra and itty-bitty teeny tiny spanky pants running eight-minute miles and barely breaking a sweat. I hate them.

I’m just doing my part to spread the love today, Internet.

Where was I?

So several things were going through my head as I was running yesterday – other than various scenarios on ways I could trip up Massoman to make him slow down.

I’ve been doing this super-speedy-get-ready-spaghetti leg torture workout now for about six weeks – and I’ve seen drastic improvements in my strength. My arms and back are looking really strong and my legs ARE strong. I feel great, although my abdominal area and my ass are taking their sweet time repairing all that previous hail damage. And my weight hasn’t budged a bit – not that I’m complaining. Or whining. Or being bitchy or anything like that. Although it might be the Michael Phelps diet I’m currently on.

But my questions are:

I’m still in shock about my run yesterday. I’ve done the math over in my head all day. It just doesn’t make sense. Neither does my PR in a half marathon that I ran in 2 hours 4 minutes and I did without training for two months prior, it was just one of those freaky days that I woke up and felt great. That race has always been a mystery to me too. Can a 20 degrees drop in temperature really improve your time so much? Why can’t every day be one of those freaky days?

I have seven weeks until the Chicago marathon – should I start substituting one of my Leg Torture workouts with a track torture workout? Or is it too late in the game to make a difference? If it’s not too late, what should I be doing?

Feel free to skip the videos. Coming off yesterday’s long run – Leg Torture was a bitch today. I was a weenie and could only squat 65 lbs and my abs, plate runners and lunges are pathetic. Cindy took pity on me and we did a little arm torture in place of some of the leg stuff. I also couldn’t get my video software to work so I have three videos instead of merging them into one. Bite me.

Leg Torture #10 – Squats from Runner Susan on Vimeo.

Leg Torture #10 Abs from Runner Susan on Vimeo.

Leg Torture for the Arms# 10 from Runner Susan on Vimeo.