Hopping a train back to Queens after running into Manhattan to wrap up week 3 of Chicago Marathon training.

What a glorious weekend for running.

Friday was a beautiful day…but of course I did not have a run scheduled.

Luckily, Saturday was just as nice for my 8-mile long run.

Still, as has been happening all week because most of my runs get super-sweaty and they’ve mostly been in hot temperatures, the shirt came off.

I can’t risk chafing in the chest and I just don’t care - the shirt is coming off when it feels like it needs to come off.

This is a huge shift for me from previous years where modesty outweighed comfort.

So I apologize in advance (or retrospectively) if you see me running without a shirt.

Let’s take a look at how the week went:

Monday: 3 miles, 11:18/mi pace

Tuesday: Strength in the morning - a 5 minute core, 15 minute lower body, and 10 minute upper body, then in the afternoon I did my intervals - 6.28 miles, 1:10:27 total time.

Wednesday: Rest day

Thursday: 4 miles, 11:00/mi

Friday: 4.43 miles on the bike - a 20-minute Peloton class (though I took it easier than the class)

Saturday: 8 mile long run over the Queensborough Bridge, ending near Central Park

I ended up doing the interval running around 5:30pm on Tuesday - it was pretty hot, but I think it was less humid than last week? It was definitely a higher temperature, and I was doing it again after a long day of work…but earlier than I did in previous weeks.

Maybe it just felt better because I played it smarter - I walked all of the interval recoveries…and that kept me strong enough to jog the entire 2-mile cooldown at the end.

Friday, keeping in mind I was driving to New York later in the evening, I decided instead of a strength workout I would do a quick little bike ride for my cross-training. Nothing huge, but enough to get my legs working. I definitely felt it during the day in my quads, so it was a good reminder that I should probably work that in a little more. (And as I alluded to above, I could probably work a little harder on the bike another day when I don’t have a long car ride ahead. I do find I need to take care to shift myself as I drive to make sure I’m not hurting my legs or my hips.)

Then the 8-mile long run on Saturday was a nice little run down memory lane of the New York City training I did last summer. It’s about 4 miles to the Queensborough Bridge, and then I had about 3-and-a-halfish miles in Manhattan to finish up my 8-miler. The shirt came off somewhere around mile 6. (But I put it back on to ride the subway home.)

There’s probably one more New York City run coming this summer. Let’s hope the weather can be this nice then too.

I didn’t have the normal Saturday recovery of putting my feet up - instead I went to Citi Field and then drove back to Massachusetts.

So Sunday will be a big-time rest day.

Still, so far, so good through three weeks.

Total Miles for Week 3: 21.28

Total Miles Overall: 61.75