Monday, September 2, 2013

Chicago Marathon Training Week #12

The week the I-word reared its ugly head.

Update: I've just realized the font in this post has gone screwy. I can't fix it, so apologies to anyone who is as OCD as me. It's bugging the absolute daylights out of me.

Monday

Nothing. Flew to Atlanta first thing and didn't leave the office until late.

Tuesday

AM: 5 miles (8km) - 54:31

I chose a different hotel to stay at this week. The choices are pretty limited as my office is out in the suburbs. This hotel is in a better area - more residential and  just nearby has an approximately 4 mile long road, with sidewalks and street lights. This works pretty well as my longest mid-week runs are 8 miles.

I took my first run out with a liberal amount of caution. I had driven the route (well, I was a passenger while one of my colleagues drove the route for me) the night before so I had a feel for what was what but it's a little unnerving being out early in the morning in a new and unknown area.

Two other runners crossed my path during the run and both gave enthusiastic hellos. Early morning runners are the best!

I finished up feeling pretty good and happy to have run without incident.

Wednesday

AM: 6 miles (9.6km) - 1:04:01

Same route as Tuesday. Headed out feeling a little more relaxed than the day before. But not that relaxed, as when a squirrel (I think it was a squirrel anyway) ran in front of me, I may have squealed just a little and my heart stopped for what felt like a minute. Having found a safer and more consistent route meant I could relax into the hills more and use them as part of my training (rather than the constant start-stop routine I'd been doing previously). I have lost of perspective of what constitutes "hilly" but I think this route might be just that. It certainly has more hills than my Chicago runs (I know, it's not that hard though). Here are the elevation profiles of my 6 mile run in Atlanta versus 6 miles in Chicago. It would look better if I could get the scales equal.
Hello Atlanta hills
Practically flat Chicago
Thursday

AM: 0.1 miles - ow!

I started a run but called it quits with calf pain.

AM: Elliptical - 15:00
AM: Weights - 30:00

Took my workout inside but even the elliptical started aggravating my calf.

Friday

AM: 8 miles (12.8km) - 1:23:40

Feeling better today, so decided to give the planned 8 miles a go. All went well, my calf was quiet all run.

Saturday

AM: 10 miles (16km) - 1:50:29

13 mile run fail. This was the run where I really began to question whether there was something seriously wrong with my calf. It never really hurt but I could feel it from mile 2. By mile 8 I knew it was time to call it quits. I am stubborn so made it an even 10.

Sunday

Rest. Ice. Compression. Stretch.

This week's stats

  • Total miles: 29 (46.4km)
  • Total running time: 5 hours 12 minutes 40 seconds
  • Total running workouts: 4
  • Total cross training workouts: 1 (ish)
  • Total strength workouts: 1
Goals for next week
Exactly the same as last week.
  • Warm up and cool down
  • Running form
  • Getting up when the alarm goes off and not after I hit snooze three times

August summary

  • Total miles: 153 (244.8km)
  • Total running time: 27 hours 06 minutes 51 seconds
  • Total running workouts: 20

5 comments:

  1. Great job on putting in the work to run while on the road!
    Don't be afraid to call a Physical Therapy clinic for a free injury screening. They'll give you an idea of what might be wrong and what to do. I like Athletico on Chicago and State.

    I'm struggling through intermittent calf issues, probably related to my strain. No fun. I try to give it a few miles of easy miles to warm up.

    Good luck!

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    Replies
    1. But I am afraid. What if I don't like what they say? It's so much easier to be in denial when you are actually in denial. :)

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  2. Ouch, oh no! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing. really nice blog .Great job.
    "Chicago IT"

    ReplyDelete