Chicago Marathon Training: Week 8/20

Summary
Days Run: 5
Miles Run: 35.7
(L2 training plan had 32; L3 training plan had 39 for this week-- smack in the middle)
Longest Run: 13.12 
Strength/Cross-training: 5 days of stretching/hip strengthening

Injury Update: Hip Tendinitis
Eh, I'm still not convinced that just stretching is going to get rid of this guy, but it's nowhere near the level it was before Peachtree. I think stretches are doing a great job keeping it at bay. I'm not in pain (during or after runs), can fall asleep without discomfort, and am feeling generally alright. Guess it's "good enough" right now. 

Monday
Scheduled: 30xt
Did: 15min arm workout
I opted for some morning snuggles with my baby instead of strength training before work, which meant I'd have to do my workout later. Knowing it's always hard to workout when I get home, I decided to do a small set of (5) - 1min exercises a few times a day to knock out half of the workout. Once in the morning, once at lunch, and once in the afternoon, I did 1min of plank, push-ups (on knees), tricep push-ups (against a wall), "wings" (arms extended to the side with shoes as weights, moving up and down), and then pseudo bicep curls with my shoes as weights. 

For accountability, I posted on endomondo after my first workout, noting this was 1/3 sets for the day. A friend liked it, and knowing she'd seen me declare "1/3 for the day" and might possibly expect to see two more posts coming in was the only thing that got me to finish the rest.

I planned on tacking on some hip and ab work when I got home, but the commute was wretched. It took me an hour and a half to go 20 miles. Then it started pouring my last mile... and my top was down. I ended up doing a little hip stretching, but otherwise my evening was spent drinking white wine, cuddling my potato, and doing something I haven't done in forever: READING before bed. :) 

Leisure Reading? Yes, Please!

Tuesday
Scheduled: 6ONB
Did: 6.31 ONB @ 9:00/mi avg
GREAT run this morning. I felt a little sluggish getting started, but let it be since today's plan was an out-and-back anyways. 

Again, #10KTuesday is proving itself to be "a thing". We had a couple new #10KTuesday-ers join us this morning, one of whom made an HOUR ROUND TRIP DRIVE to join us. Why? "Because it's a thing". 

what a great morning!

I kept a happily conversational and easy pace for the first two miles... then started getting faster on the third. Oops. I was still conversational, but it definitely kicked me into a faster out than I'd planned on. Still, the back was exactly what I wanted it to be. I ran comfortably fast, and even had some in the tank to push up THE HILL. :)

Also, since I missed 15min of XT yesterday, I made up for it today with: 5 min of abs, 5 min of hip strengthening, and 5 min of stretching. 

Wednesday
Scheduled: rest
Did: rest :)
Picked my son up from daycare and played with him 

storytime = smile time

Thursday
Scheduled: 1mi warm-up, 3x1600/400, 1mi cool-down
Did: 1mi warm-up, 3x1600 (7:18/7:30/7:21-- goal: 7:36), 1.25 cool-down
I love mile repeats, but, this morning, I did NOT feel like doing them. Fortunately, I have an amazing group of fellow runners to hold me accountable. 

Mile 1: Too fast. I knew I was WAY too fast at the first 400-- (1:24) 30s faster than goal pace. Eeek. I tried to slow a little, but let myself stay "in the zone". While this was a great mile by itself, it definitely hurt the rest of the workout a bit (even though my splits were all faster than goal)

Mile 2: This felt good. I tried to keep myself on pace this time, and did much better.

Mile 3: Oof. This one felt hard from the get-go. I tried to push the last lap, but it wasn't happening (1:43). Still finished strong, and way under goal pace. 

Between miles, I walked until Brandi finished (usually only about 20s behind me) then we jogged it out until the water strop. Both of us stopped each time for some hydration and stretching. Hip's still feeling fine :) 


Friday
Scheduled: 4-6 easy
Did: 6 @ 9:54/mi
This was the first morning where I really felt like I was in marathon training. My feet were a little sore; my legs were a little tired; and, despite waking up on my own and feeling refreshed before my alarm went off, my body was still feeling tired and unexcited to run.

WEEEEEE, THAT MEANS I'M OFFICIALLY MARATHON TRAINING!!! 
(I looked for a fun graphic to describe this, but only found this blog,which is hilarious and totally on point)

Anyways, oof, this run felt a LOT harder than it should have, but at least B was feeling it too. We had a good time talking for the first three miles, about baby showers, bad races, how I can crush speedwork but struggle with maintaining speed for a longer distance, the mental struggles we've both been having, etc.... and then spent most of the return trip (which was about a mile of loooooooong, slowwwwwwwwwwww, gradual hillllllllllllll) silent. It was kind of serene- just two runners with sweet light-up disco vests, plugging along in silence up a hill in the darkness of pre-dawn. 

No place I'd rather be. :)

Well, maybe cuddled up in bed would have been nice... but that wouldn't really help me on October 9. :P

I know yesterday was speedwork, but, man, look at that difference in pace for the SAME distance on back-to-back days.

Saturday
Scheduled: 12-14 LSD
Did: 4 easy @ 8:48/mi
ATC had one of their free Grand Prix races today, so I knew I was going to do that for four miles. I'd originally hoped to knock out the 12-14 distance with 6-8 before and/or 2-3 after, but a few things threw that out the window. With Brandi out of town, Jerry injured, and the other "in for extra miles" peeps I know all doing their long run on Sunday or being too different of a pace for me to comfortably join, I opted out of running solo at 6am around a place I'm not familiar with and decided to push the LSD to Sunday at the river.

Everything about today was chill. I loved not having any goals for a race for once, other than keeping it "easy". I've done this race a handful of times (it's an ATC annual), and knew it was a little on the hilly side, which made not having any goals that much more exciting. Not caring about my pace also made me feel less dependent on my handheld and, for the first race in pretty much forever, I ran without it. 

Despite it being a race with about 1200 other people, I was beautifully alone for the four miles. I haven't run alone in a really long time, and it was actually kind of nice. Even when I'm only running with one or two others, I'm still aware of them. Today, I pretty much zoned out and enjoyed just running for running's sake... alone.

Mile 1: let myself run whatever I felt, and ended up at 8:54

Mile 2: slowed a bit on the hills, still didn't pay too much attention to my pace, got miffed at the people who were already walking, but had started in the corrals ahead of me (A was "7:30/mi or faster"; B was "8:30/mi or faster"), and ended up at 8:59

Mile 3: started thinking about making the race goal to finish with an 8:xx/mi pace, split was 8:47... but it was the downhill part of the course

Mile 4: realized I could run a 10:00 for the last mile and still hit my sub-36 goal, took it comfortably, trying to talk to myself periodically to test if I was still at a "conversational" pace, took some longer strides over the last 100m, but didn't really kick-- 8:30

It felt great to just have a really fun four mile experience. Now it's off for a day of errands (car service, Home Depot, yardwork, hair appointment, home maintenance, and a trip to the mall for some BS with my wedding ring inspection). Woohoo, this is how we spend our weekends when the baby's with my parents. :P 

only pic from the event: pre-race selfie with Judy
follow her Chicago training here

Sunday
Scheduled: 4-5 easy
Did: 13.12 @ 9:30/mi avg (EXACTLY. BOOM)
I was a bit nervous heading into this run. It was going to be my first half marathon distance since, like, August of last year, and my longest mileage by 2.5mi since baby. Marathon training is getting real, people! 

I moved the LSD to Sunday to run with people, and we had a great crew at the river this morning, doing anywhere from 6 to 18. Courtney and I had planned to run together at a 9:30, though I wasn't 100% confident I could keep that, along the river for most of it, duck into the infamous "Martin's Landing" neighborhood for some hills around 6-8, and finish up along some shaded riverside trails. It was a great way to divide the run into thirds in my head, and help me stay in the mental zone. 

0-4: I had to keep myself slower than usual here, because I knew I'd crash and burn if I let myself do closer to 9s for the first bit of a 13 mile training run. Ended up letting a few of the other pods pass me and hanging back with Joe, clocking 9:45s until we got back to the start

4-8: The hills of ML were just what I remembered them being: tough, but manageable. Three years ago, when I first joined the track club and was a trainee in their fall half marathon program, this is where we trained. It was so nice to go back to some familiar ground, especially on a day where I was going to tackle the half marathon distance. 

8-13: Once the hills of ML were over, I was able to think of the rest of the run as a nice, easy cooldown. We actually ended up picking up the pace a bit in the last few miles, which felt really good. 

I hadn't really been looking much at my watch during the run. I saw a few splits around 9:45, and dismissed them. Whatever. This was a long run. If I ended up at a 10, so be it. I was going to be proud to finish the mileage. 

9:30/mi. WIN.

That's faster than the half marathon I ran just before I found out I was pregnant.

That's the fastest I've run that distance since November 2014.

I just ran an easy half marathon at a 9:30/mi.

Runs like this give me confidence. It wasn't 100% easy, but I certainly felt good through all of it. If anything, it was mental fatigue that plagued me throughout the distance. I was certainly grateful for my run buddies and our two hour conversations about everything from show chorus and training plans to parents and the health crisis in America. 

Now, to do this again next week, and add a few miles... and again the week after, and after that, and after that, and... 

It's not a scary thought. It's an exciting one. I feel like I'm hitting my stride and in the zone. 

Wooooo, MARATHONNNNNNNNNNN!