Monday, July 31, 2017

My first 60+ mile week ever! Chicago Marathon Training

Which goes to say that it is also my highest mileage week since I started running in 2010. And I still have 10 weeks of training (well 8 really, subtracting taper) until I race Chicago Marathon

Early in the week I completed a run I would have thought was impossible a month ago. Eight miles at speed with out stopping (in a non-race situation). The first four miles were a little bit faster than goal marathon pace (8:30-8:40/mi) and the second four miles were at half-marathon(ish) pace (8:15-8:25/mi). I figured after completing this run, my hardest on my schedule, the rest of the week is just getting the miles in. I'm glad it was scheduled for Tuesday!
NAILED IT!

Working with Coach Becki Spellman has helped me get comfortable running marathon pace, so after my 2 mile warm-up the first 4 work miles almost felt easy. They were hard and I had to work to maintain pace but I felt okay running them. I've finally learned to ease into pace and not take the first work miles too fast. The second 4 work miles did not feel easy and I definitely had to use mental strength to not give-up. One thought that helped me was knowing how great I would feel once I completed the workout. And I definitely did. This workout pumped me up and made feel like I can run Chicago at the pace I'm training. Splits: 8:32, 8:37, 8:38, 8:39, 8:23, 8:14, 8:16, 7:54. I can't believe I ran a sub-8 mile for my last work mile. I just wanted to get done so I ran it fast. I ran all 8 miles on the track to simulate the "flatness" of Chicago.


Week 13: July 24-30


New shoes for August

Monday:8 miles easy (8.1 miles, 9:27/mi). Jasyoga: Booty Lock Mitigation

Tuesday: 12 miles with tempo-2 miles easy, 4 miles at 8:30-8:40/mi, 4 miles at 8:15-8:25/mi, 2 miles easy.Splits: 8:32, 8:37, 8:38, 8:39, 8:23, 8:14, 8:16, 7:54 (12.1 miles, 8:48/mi). Jasyoga: Quick Hamstring Reset

Wednesday: 6 miles easy (6.1 miles, 9:29/mi).

Thursday: 10 miles-first 4 miles easy, second 4 miles faster (think 20 seconds faster than easy), last 2 miles easy.

Friday: 8 miles easy (8.0 miles, 9:11). New shoes again (same model, new color -Brooks PureCadence). Training for a marathon and 200+mile/months burns a lot of rubber. 

Saturday: 18 mile long run (18.1 miles, 9:48/mi). My legs were super-tired as this was the culmination of 9 days running without a rest day. I was able to push through and run strong to the end. I felt good about this run and this week. Jasyoga: Recovery Boost for Runners.
Long run done! Looking forward to rest day!


Sunday: OFF. 1 hour yoga class at Ritual Brew. Enjoyed my day off!

Total Weekly Miles: 62.4 miles!!! (9 hours, 47 minutes)
2017 Miles: 868.3 miles

I've joined the training link up on Eat Pray Run DC. See the link up HERECourtney is training for the Berlin Marathon. :) 

3 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! You are incredible. What a week and you NAILED it! You are going to kill it at Chicago. Can NOT WAIT to track you as you just attack that course!!!!!!

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  2. That's awesome mileage for one week - way to go!!

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