Chicago Marathon Training Week 7
The word that sums up this week is tired. Many long hours at work, combined with balancing marathon training led to major fatigue and additional stress. Ironically, this was the quote sent in our weekly McMillan email:
“The demon you can swallow gives you its power. The greater life’s pain the greater life’s reply.” – Joseph Campbell
Truer words could not have been written (or spoken). There's a reason that marathon training is difficult, and it is to not only physically prepare you for the task of running 26.2 miles, but also mentally. I often find that even though my body is physically tired, it is my mind that gives in first. I really like this quote because it sums up nicely that you can use all of the pain, stress, fatigue, etc. to help fuel you and make you stronger.
Here was what my week looked like:
Cut-back week
Sunday: 5 miles easy, Jasyoga - Cool It
Monday: 3 easy miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Strength training
Thursday: Speed run - 6 X 1000m with 200m recovery, 4 X 100m strides with 100m recovery, warm up and cool down, Strength training
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 90 min Progression run - run faster each 30 minutes, Jasyoga - Quick Hip Reset
Total: 21.39 miles
The weather was just as hot and miserable for Sunday's recovery run as it had been for the long run. I took the miles nice and easy, and was so thankful when I woke up early on Monday to discover cool and breezy temps for my 3 mile run.
Monday through Wednesday was my culture certification training, and this meant long hours both in the car and classroom. I was so exhausted by Thursday, but I knew I had to get my speed run in. This was by far the most difficult speed run I've encountered to date. With Hansons, the 1000 meter work was done at strength pace which was about 10 seconds faster than your race pace. In this instance, I was doing full-on speedwork, and having to maintain that speed for more than half a mile. It was pretty brutal, and my exhausted body that did not eat much the days before was struggling. It was nice to see when I finished that I met the prescribed pace and that mentally I overcame the difficulty of the run when I often wanted to stop or cut it short. Normally I would enjoy running after being stuck indoors or the car so much, but exhaustion was clearly winning.
This was a cut-back week which meant no long run. Instead, there was a challenging progression run which I found difficult considering it as not a long run. Much as with other progression runs, I struggle with going out too fast so this is the perfect type of run to help me hold back and save something for the end. Naturally I wanted to run faster the first 30 minutes, and by the last 30 minutes it felt challenging to hold a faster pace. It was great practice and I like that the cut back weeks in this plan still provide challenging and important runs.
Next week is a built-in extra week that I scheduled because of my yearly camping trip. I plan to continue with the majority of the mid-week runs as usual, and then resume training the following Monday.
“The demon you can swallow gives you its power. The greater life’s pain the greater life’s reply.” – Joseph Campbell
Truer words could not have been written (or spoken). There's a reason that marathon training is difficult, and it is to not only physically prepare you for the task of running 26.2 miles, but also mentally. I often find that even though my body is physically tired, it is my mind that gives in first. I really like this quote because it sums up nicely that you can use all of the pain, stress, fatigue, etc. to help fuel you and make you stronger.
Here was what my week looked like:
Cut-back week
Sunday: 5 miles easy, Jasyoga - Cool It
Monday: 3 easy miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Strength training
Thursday: Speed run - 6 X 1000m with 200m recovery, 4 X 100m strides with 100m recovery, warm up and cool down, Strength training
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 90 min Progression run - run faster each 30 minutes, Jasyoga - Quick Hip Reset
Total: 21.39 miles
The weather was just as hot and miserable for Sunday's recovery run as it had been for the long run. I took the miles nice and easy, and was so thankful when I woke up early on Monday to discover cool and breezy temps for my 3 mile run.
Monday through Wednesday was my culture certification training, and this meant long hours both in the car and classroom. I was so exhausted by Thursday, but I knew I had to get my speed run in. This was by far the most difficult speed run I've encountered to date. With Hansons, the 1000 meter work was done at strength pace which was about 10 seconds faster than your race pace. In this instance, I was doing full-on speedwork, and having to maintain that speed for more than half a mile. It was pretty brutal, and my exhausted body that did not eat much the days before was struggling. It was nice to see when I finished that I met the prescribed pace and that mentally I overcame the difficulty of the run when I often wanted to stop or cut it short. Normally I would enjoy running after being stuck indoors or the car so much, but exhaustion was clearly winning.
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| Autumn really missed me |
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| Progression run success! |
Next week is a built-in extra week that I scheduled because of my yearly camping trip. I plan to continue with the majority of the mid-week runs as usual, and then resume training the following Monday.
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