Chicago Marathon Training: Week 15/20

Weekly Summary
Miles: 54.6 (L2=41, L3=50)
Days Run: 6 (but only because I'm shifting my rest day to Monday)
XT: 0
Rest: 1
Intermittent Injuries: tight calves on Monday, felt a sore spot on my outer R calf at the top during my 5mi (solved with sports massage), lots of PF/foot soreness during last part of 20mi and after
Feelings: worried, calm, overwhelmed, optimistic, driven, proud, resigned, proud, excited, awesome

Monday
Scheduled: 5-6
Did: 5.37 @ 9:52/mi
Knowing this was our slow/recovery run day, Brandi and I opted for a hilly route, just to run some different streets. Courtney joined us, and we enjoyed an unintentionally progressive run through the hills of Haynes Bridge. 

My calves have been tight off and on for the past week, and I think the 14mi of hills at ATC Saturday did a number on them... especially having to slow down so much for the last two. I wore my compression sleeves on the run today, but still felt a bit of a twinge/sore spot on the upper outside of my right one. Going to try to get in for a sports massage today or tomorrow. I've stayed so strong and so healthy this cycle, and I don't want to fall off the wagon now. 

Hills of Haynes Bridge

Tuesday
Scheduled: 10
Did: 10.02 @ 10:00/mi avg
I was already in a bad mood for the day before 4am. I hadn't properly prepared the night before, hadn't slept well, and was very worried about my calves, which were still sore from last night's sports massage and probably shouldn't be carrying me through 10mi so soon after such a vigorous massage. Again, I find I get most upset when I find myself in a situation proper planning/preparation could have prevented. 

If I'd been solo, I wouldn't have done this run. Heck, I even considered telling Brandi last night at 9pm that I wasn't going to make the early miles. But then when would I do them? And, if I didn't do them, I couldn't CTSO, and my Saturday run would be harder, and then training would get off, and then the marathon wouldn't work out, and then my entire world would come crumbling down. Well, maybe not that bad. ;) 

Once again, having a training partner saved the day. She let me vent about all of the silly little things that were stressing me out simply "because marathon training" for our first four-ish miles, didn't mind that we started a bit late because I struggled with my new handheld, and enjoyed pretending we were Kenyans doing our pre-warm-up-warm-up at, oh, about 11min/mi. Yeah, it was that bad. 

I kept the pace really slow for the first bit, being overly cautious with my still sore calves. We didn't hit under a 10min pace until mile 6, though part of that was us doubling back for Birgit a few times. 

It felt really freeing to just be able to run this morning, without a workout or a pace goal. There was ZERO looking at watches, or conscious efforts to pick up the pace, etc. Soooo nice! 

We even seem to have settled into our comfortable pace towards the end: 9:30s. Hooray!



Wednesday
Scheduled: off
Did: 3x10 push-ups and 3x10 tricep dips, 2mi walk
Also went to PT for my hip, which is totally fine again. Got my official "release" from that. Yay. 


Thursday
Scheduled: 6 or 8mi tempo (< 9:00/mi)
Did: 1WU, 6 tempo @ 8:45/9:00/8:45/8:29/8:35/8:41, 1CD
Training partners are the best. I wouldn't have pushed myself at all without Brandi this morning. We met up at a new place this morning, closer to her, for a straight-shot out-and-back route on Medlock Bridge that she crafted. I found that I really enjoyed not knowing what to expect from the course (well, at least when I know that it isn't hills for days like our recent Saturday ATC routes). The way out had a decent bit of uphill, but it was nice to know that, on the return trip, we'd have a ton of easy downhill to assist us. 

The warm-up felt ungodly sluggish, like, "don't look at your watch or you might cry" sluggish, but it was actually just over a 10:00. What a pleasant surprise! 

I felt pretty good once I kicked it into gear, even though I was a good bit behind B for the first mile. We eventually switched places (she was having some stomach issues), and that gave me a little mental boost to keep the pace. I stopped and waited for her at the turnaround, which kind of means this wasn't actually a tempo run, but more like last week's 3mi repeats. Did I need to stop? No. But, 1) I wanted the excuse, and 2) training partners make sure each other are OK. 

On the returning three miles, I felt amazing, like, "I could do this all day 'cause it's so much fun" amazing. My pace definitely reflected it. After clocking the first quarter at a sub-8 pace, I made myself slow down, knowing there was no way I was keeping that for another 2.75. 

Best part of the run: a little post-workout therapy session where we both talked about some of our successes and disappointments with this training season, goals for the marathon, and how excited we both are to be done with this lifestyle in six weeks. 

Oh, hey, there sub-9 average for an 8mi run :D

Friday
Scheduled: 5-6
Did: 5.7 @ 10:07/mi avg
I'm not sure if I'm sick or dealing with weird allergy stuff. I don't really get allergies, but a lot of people around here are suffering from them right now and the runny/stuffy nose, watery eyes, and itchy throat seem more allergy-ish than cold-ish, especially since they're so spasmodic. At least, when I'm running, all the nose stuff goes away.

Today felt like a slug day, but, hey, if this is my slug pace, life is pretty good. A 10:00/mi pace equates to a 4:22 marathon. :D 

Good things about today:

• We mixed up our normal route a bit and it was nice to be at mile 4 when we're normally only at mile 2 on a given route. 
• We had a really amazing breeze for most of it (though when the breeze suddenly stopped, both of us felt absurdly overheated for a moment or two until homeostasis was achieved) 

Saturday
Scheduled: 20
Did: 5ish @ 10:12/mi with people before 15 @ 9:34/mi group = 20.1 @ 9:44/mi avg
I was pretty nervous about this run. It's not every day that you run TWENTY miles. Being able to break it up, mentally, into (4) - 5mi segments helped a ton. This is one of my last "high mileage" runs before Chicago. Next week it's 18ish, then 22, and then all aboard for TaperVille. It feels so good to be in the home stretch... and to still be feeling so awesome.

As usual, we had an early group meet for bonus mileage. I didn't get a pic, but there was quite a showing this morning at 5:45. We split into a low-9 and high-10 group, which was a bit awkward for me, since I didn't want to run either of those paces. I ending up running most of it solo, between the two groups, which was actually a nice change for me. I had no one I was obligated to for most of the run. The downside to this was that I started way too early for the mileage I was getting, and ended up having about 30min of downtime between runs. 

The actual group run for the day was 15mi. We weren't going through the dreaded (hilly) Sherwood Forest neighborhood, but, honestly, the Prado was probably worse (155' of elevation gain in a single mile). 

why, yes, those hills WERE straight up

I fell in with my usual high-9 group, and was really proud that we caught the 9-flats (9:00/mi) at every water stop! The cooler temperature (high 60s) really helped. Now that we've run a few long distances together, I've learned a bit more about my pod, but, unfortunately, they're still not very talkative as a group. I can always drag some conversation out of each person if I address them individually, but need to work on my conversation-starter skills. Goal for next week: come prepared with a few topics to chat about. 

I had a lot of times on the run where my calves felt tight, but, overall, it was a great fifteen miles. I finished feeling strong, like, strong enough that I considered going extra. But then I realized it didn't matter if I got 22 this week. I'd still have to get it again in two weeks. The best thing to do was enjoy the 20.1mi victory and use any extra energy to be social for the rest of the day.


Also, was SUPER proud of the pace I kept for the 15mi of course. That's faster than what I'd need for a 4:30 marathon. I'm going to annihilate this race next month. 

9s at the water stop

Recovery went reasonably well. I swung by a friend's house on the way back to get some baby clothes, and was treated to french toast and bacon (OMG!), so the meal part was taken care of. Got home an hour later, had some chocolate milk, a shower, a stretch, and then a 30min attempt at napping. 

...and then I had to get out of bed. Oof. I had about ten minutes of hobbling through the house before things loosened up. Then I had a sandwich and we headed over to a friend's for football. It was a long day, and I crashed when we finally got home at 8pm, but my body felt fine. I'm putting this one in the "win" column.

Sunday
Scheduled: 30xt
Did: 5.36 @ 10:56/mi with the stroller
I felt fine this morning, so I decided to get my 5-6mi Monday run out of the way so that I could enjoy Labor Day holiday with my family (and sleep in while the grandparents watched baby boy). There was a 10:30/mi group meeting up at the river, and I figured I could probably go that slowly with the stroller. We ended up being a bit slower than that, which was a little uncomfortable, but alright for a recovery run with the stroller. Plus, I enjoyed the different people I got to run with. 

with Harley!