Chicago Marathon Training: Week 14/20

Weekly Summary
Miles: 47.24  (L2= 42, L3= 47) 
Switched out the L3 16PRO long run for a L2 18LSD, but kept the other L3 workouts
Days Run: 5
XT: 1 (from now on, I'm counting strength training)
Rest: 1
Intermittent Injuries: tight/sore right hip flexor/groin-- happened last week, but I didn't mention it; tight calves on Monday; PF after 10MiTuesday; left lower back sore/strain on Wed/Thurs night but fine in morning after sleep; tight-ish calves on Friday morning; sore lower lower abs/publc bone tendons post-LSD
Feelings: elated, proud, happy, strong, proud, excited, proud (notice a theme?)


Monday
Scheduled: 5-6
Did: 5.09 @ 10:26/mi avg
Came down with a sore throat AGAIN last night. Got another 9 hours of sleep (thanks, Jerry, you're amazing!), Still had a sore throat in the morning. Since that was the only thing, I got up and went running anyways.

It was a disgustingly slow recovery run, but it happened, and that's the point of these "garbage miles" days, right?


Tuesday
Scheduled: 10 ONB
Did: 10.02 @ 9:39/mi avg, 15min weight-lifting, 5mi abs
Y'all. #10KTuesday just became #10MileTuesday. I am now running ten miles on a weekday as part of my "normal training schedule" from now until taper week. What. The. Nugget.

I think I'm finally not sick again. I woke up sans alarm at 3:55 and was out the door in time for my 4:20am start with Brandi. It's recently dawned on me that the "go to bed at 7pm so you can get up to take the 1am-6am shift" schedule that I started when baby boy was only a few months old hasn't ever gone away. It's a good thing I got on that schedule when I did, or these early running mornings would never happen. It's going to be so weird when marathon training is over and I have 2-3 hours of time to spend with my husband after the baby's gone to bed at night.

Brandi and had plans for 20min out, 20min back. We took it easy, but had to keep ourselves in check when our pace approached 9:30 in the second mile. This was an ONB, which mean the first half should be easy, and the second half should be pushed. There would be plenty of time for pushing later. We met up with the #10KTuesday crew and enjoyed a mile and a half with Birgit before cranking up to our "back" pace.

Splits on the 4.5mi of "out": 10:40, 10:15, 9:58, 10:16, 10:20

I felt great on the backhalf of the course. It felt good to "work", and got me thinking about how incredible marathon training is. If I could just go out and run a marathon, even a sub-4:00 marathon, it wouldn't be much of an accomplishment. It's because of all the training, the sacrifices, and the dedication that crossing that finish line is such a big accomplishment. 

"A marathon is hundreds of miles. The finish is the last 26.2."

Splits on the 5.0 of "back": 9:10, 9:01, 9:19, 8:58, 8:49 (all still conversational!!!)

I'm sure the cooler weather helped today's pace. I had a few amazing moments after I stopped at the halfway point and the end of the run where this zephyr came over me and actually made me a little cold since I was covered in sweat. Can't wait for Run-tober!!! 

I really wish Garmin would let me adjust the graph axes...

Wednesday

Scheduled: xt/rest
Did: 2.3mi lunch walk, 16 flights of stairs, 100 wall/tricep push-ups, 3x10x15# chest press, 3x10x5# three-way arm raises, 10,000 steps
If I had a stationary bike or an elliptical at home, XT would happen. Since that won't change before October, let's make a new plan: XT days can just be strength and walk days.

Commitment:
3x10 chest press
3x10 three-way arm raises
3x10 push-ups, on a ball or on the floor
3x10 tricep dips
3x10 bicep curls
3x10 plank row 

Once a week, from now until Chicago. I have free weights at home. I can make time for this. It might not be much, but it's better than nothing.  Plus, really, my arms need some work :P

I got half of the free-weight stuff in. It's really hard to have weights in your hands and still watch your child. Not only was I worried about needing to catch him from falling while he scaled his pillow mountain, but I had had to be aware of where he was relative to the giant weights I was swinging around... Gonna have to rethink this free-weights + baby thing. 

Thursday
Scheduled: 1WU, 2x3mi/800, 1CD
Did: 1WU @ 10:49, 2x3mi (24:51, 24:23), 1 CD @ 9:50
What do you do when your training partner needs to be done by 6am and your workout is nine miles long? 

Meet at the river at 4:30am with your handheld mace and flashy disco light vests!

Reasons I was NOT looking forward to this run:

• 3:55am alarm. Getting up at 4:15 = reasonable. Getting up before 4am = ugh
• The longest "repeat" I've ever done is one mile. Today I had TWO three-mile repeats.
• That's almost like two back-to-back 25:00 5Ks (which, real talk: was this year's annual 5K goal--- until Braves I'd never done a 25:00 5K)
• Total mileage for today's workout was 9mi. I just ran 10mi two days ago, and I have 18 to do in two days. Whaaaaaaaaat.

Reasons this run was awesome:

• Brandi and I did it together. Having a true training partner is literally the best.
• Sliiiightly cooler temps by the river.
• First repeat = 8:17/mi. Second repeat = 8:08/mi. A pace of  7:56/mi equates to a 3:41 marathon per our indicator chart. I think it's safe to say I'm totally winning on this training cycle. Really excited to see how my LSD paces shake out in late September.  
• If you don't count the little bit of walking we did at the start of each 800m recovery, I just ran a 9mi training run at a sub-9 pace. Brandi paused her watch on the walks and ended up with 9:00 at 8:53/mi, and I was faster than her on the last mile of our second repeat. (!!!)

Friday
Scheduled: 6
Did: 5.04 @ 9:38/mi
Oops. I really thought I had 5-6 on the schedule, so I ran the short end. Nothing terribly exciting about this run. Met up with Brandi and Kathleen for the first 5 of their 20mi at the river. We ran a lot of the same path as yesterday, but it felt completely different with a different purpose/pace for the workout. 

runnin' by the river

Saturday
Scheduled: 18
Did: 18.11 @ 9:52/mi avg
None of the other Chicago/early marathoners had the same distance/time plans as me, so I started my extra miles solo. Since I knew we had a hillacious course for the group run AND I didn't really feel 100% safe running my 4mi bonus mileage route solo, I just stuck to loops of Armour. It was kind of nice running the opposite direction and passing a few other early mileage people. 

I was our 9 sweep for the main group run this week, and, unlike weeks past, we actually had a good crowd of high-9s. At first I thought it might've just been the fact that we now have half marathoners joining us, but they all ended up being full trainees. Hooray! 

I ended up running in the back quarter of the 9s for the first bit, rather than actually sweeping, since we had four RLs who were trying to run in the back of the pack with about three participants and there was a chunk of about a dozen participants just head without a run lead. 

Overall, the run went really well for me. It was one of the first days where I felt like I was truly at a "very easy pace" for myself. Towards the end, I had to stop to adjust my sock, and then pick up the pace to catch my participants. I hit a 9:12 for that split. An easy 9:12 on mile 16 of a hilly run, in the sun, in the heat. Oh, and I couldn't have had to push for more than half a mile, so there's a good bit of slower pace averaged into that split. So awesome.

I feel like the course map looks like a middle finger. Kind of fitting once you see the elevation chart... haha

The last two miles were rough, though. My participants were starting to feel it, and that meant I had to be on high alert, both from an encouragement/support standpoint, and also a "does anyone NEED to stop?" standpoint. Our pace for these was closer to an 11, which made it physically hard for me. Especially after already running so many miles, having to modify my stride to keep that pace was rough, but we got through it and finished together.

After the run, I didn't really get much recovery time. I ate the post-run sammich I'd made for myself the night before and packed in a lunch box, hit up the ATC Mizuno Warehouse sale (walking), and then a handful of the ATC runners training for Chicago did brunch together. It was really great to start building a sense of team with them. 

After brunch, it was straight home for a shower, and then pretty much right back out to support ATC's NY marathon charity runners at a Field Day at a local brewery. I think I'm most proud of the fact that I was up since 3:45am (baby cried out an woke me up... though he went right back to sleep), going non-stop, and still felt pretty good all day long. I'm getting MUCH better at this recovery thing!

Sunday
Scheduled: rest
Did: strength workout
Woke up to pretty weak lower lower abs, sore around pubic bone... all this postpartum crap just reminds me that I haven't been doing anything to strengthen my core the way I should, and that, whenever we decide to have another baby, my body is probably not going to handle it nearly as well as it did the first time around. Ugh.

Thought about biking, but, again, it just requires too much time/effort. So, I settled for a short strength workout instead:

3x10x15# chest press
3x10x5# three-way arm raises
3x10 push-ups, on a ball or on the floor
3x10 tricep dips
3x10x10# bicep curls
3x10x5# plank row 
3x10 hand to foot crunches each side