Endure Strong Training Recap: Pre-Race Update

Disclaimer: I received an Endure Strong Coaching Package to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Three days out from my next race; the culmination of my training efforts for a half marathon PR, and I have a lot of emotions going into this race. The prevailing emotion is excitement over a destination race with one of my best friends, Stephanie. I’m excited to spend time in her hometown and get a chance to finally explore Chicago. Not only that, but it’s the BibRave Pro Summit weekend, and they have a bunch of fun activities in store for us. I’m looking forward to meeting the BibRave team in person, playing tourist, and eating delicious Chicago food. But let’s be honest, it’s going to be a HOT weekend! The forecast is 100 degrees on Friday, and by race day it will have cooled down slightly, so I’m just hoping for lower temps with our early start time. All of this doesn’t really bode well for PR conditions, but I’m adjusting my expectations.

While I kept with a fairly regular training schedule for the majority of this round, I did have hiccups from health issues back in end of May/early June, and as a result had to adjust the intensity of my runs. So while I’m feeling ready for this race, I don’t expect the original PR that I set of a sub 2 half marathon. Past that, my fastest half marathon to date was in 2016 and was a 2:09:41 on the hill Bull City Race Fest course in Durham. So I’ve decided to set some goal targets to adjust my expectations.

A Goal: Anything faster than 2:09:41
B Goal: Sub 2:15
C Goal: Sub 2:20

While my training this cycle wasn’t ideal, this should be a fast and flat course. I love Rock N Roll races because they have tons of crowd support and entertainment that can make the time fly by. I’m going to fill my hydration pack so I can run through the water stations, pack my SIS Gels to keep extra electrolytes on hand, and dress for a hot racing day. I tried to go pretty easy this week with my final runs and workouts. I did a couple of days of strength training (teaching Mossa Power), and one day of PiYo, as well as 2 easy runs, with one more shakeout run planned for Saturday morning with the BibRave Pro team.

If you want more information on the Endure Strong Coaching program, check out their website to see the various training plan and coaching options in working with Jared Ward and his team.