Chicago Marathon Training Week #14

One month out! The anticipation is really beginning to build now.

Monday

AM: 5.75 miles (9.2km) - 1:01:08
PM: Strength session - 30:00

After blathering on in my weekly recap last week about loving running and feeling so lucky to be able to do what I do, I dragged my tired self out the door this morning for a 6-ish mile run. Those Boomtown Rats had it right - I don't like Mondays. But I do like running and I remembered that about 2 miles in. This was a sluggish and slightly petulant run and came up a quarter mile short of my intended distance.

After work I snuck in a strength workout.

Tuesday

AM: 5.25 miles (8.4km) - 54:33

Too much strength work Monday night left me pretty tired this morning. Add in the summery temps and this was just hard work. Felt like I was dragging the whole way.

Wednesday

AM: 7 miles (11.2km) - 1:11:14
PM: Strength session - 30:00

Still tired. Still hot. But much better run today.

More strength stuff after work.

Thursday

Rest Day! Seriously, Thursday is my most absolute favourite day of the week!!

Friday

AM: 8 miles (12.8km) - 1:14:02

I already did a happy dance about this here.

Fab running temps and humidity today! The run was effortless, even with the application of some effort to my run. There was a decent wind coming from the north which had the lake stirred up. I saw one guy get hammered by a wave over the path at Fullerton. Felt bad for him but was kind of glad I saw it happen as it made me push my way through there As Quick As Possible!

Saturday

AM: 5.32 miles (8.5km) - 58:04
AM/PM: Cycling - 40:00
PM: Strength session - 30:00

Started off my day with my weekly long run. 14 miles on the cards.

Made it 4 miles south before deciding to cut things short and turn around for home. Only managed another mile or so (OCD tendencies are so not happy about that .32) before I decided enough was enough. Caught the bus back home. My left heel had been hurting a little Friday but I iced it and had high hopes for Saturday. After I woke up it felt OK and figured I'd be good to go. I walked for a mile to join my training group as a warm and was generally feeling OK. Two miles in I was feeling a fair amount of tightness in my left leg from hip to heel. Three miles in I knew this wasn't loosening up and the pain in my heel was coming back. Four miles in I figured it was safer to skip the full run than really hurt myself. Five miles and I was so uncomfortable that catching the bus just seemed like the best option.

I foam rolled, used the stick, a tennis ball and ice at home. This seemed to help some. Then I headed to a training session with a strength coach. I rode my bike there and back (it's clearly been a very long time since I rode my bike because it was Hard. Work.) to keep me off my feet. The session was really good and left feeling nicely shaky.

Thankfully I wasn't too shaky because I finished out my day with a seminar at Fleet Feet called Run Your Best. It was hosted by Newton Running and Runner's World and had Bart Yasso and Paula Newby-Fraser and speakers. There was also a running clinic where we practiced some techniques for improving speed and efficiency. Possibly not my best move doing more running but it was pretty low key and I had felt like I got a bit out of it. xaarlin was there too and we had a chat while practicing the 'superman' and other drills in the clinic. I also got some marathon pacing advice from Bart Yasso - planning my negative split for the marathon - so clearly I'm now pretty much set.

Sunday

Was hoping I'd get in a few miles to top up yesterday's shortened run but my leg was still not up to it.

This Week's Stats

• Total miles: 31.33 (50.1 km)
• Total running time: 5 hours 19 minutes 01 seconds
• Total running workouts: 5
• Total cross training workouts: 1
• Total strength workouts: 3