Chicago Marathon Training Week 11

I survived peak week! While there are still many more weeks of hard training, it feels good to put my biggest mileage week behind me and finish my first 20 miler of the training plan. One of the coaches notes this week was Repeat after me: "I can do it. I will do it. I can do it. I will do it. I can do it. I will do it." Say it rhythmically and often. I sure did say this often and this was definitely a week of doing hard things and succeeding.

First things first, my August mileage was 119.65 miles, which is one of my highest months in a while, but still lower compared to when I was on the Hansons plan. Interestingly enough, I dont feel any less trained while still maintaining a high quality training load.

Here was how my week went:

Sunday: 5 easy miles, Jasyoga- Comprehensive Hip and Hamstring Reset
Monday: 11 mile Goal Pace Run, Jasyoga- Starting Line Warmup
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Cross training
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 3 easy miles, Jasyoga - Flexible Running Hamstrings
Saturday: 20 miles long
Total: 39.18 miles

Originally I was stressing about having to run 11 miles during the week, but I was presented with the opportunity to work from home on Monday, and I figured I would just go for it as a way to better balance work and training. Despite the rain and that I had 20 miles on my legs already, I went for it. This was 9 mile goal pace run with a mile warm up and cool down, and it was one of those completely confidence boosting runs in which my body gave it everything it could. I completed the 11 miles with my last 2 miles as my fastest, and this run really proved to me that I can run on tired legs, in the rain, at goal pace.

A little rain never stopped me!

The rest of the week I took it fairly easy. I limited my strength and cross training and focused more on yoga. I listened to a great Jenny Hadfield podcast about marathon training in which she said to be kind to ourselves. Rather than try to go all out with intense strength work, I knew I needed some restorative yoga instead and I know that did wonders for keeping my body prepared to handle the mileage and my hamstrings happy.

Saturday was my first 20 mile long run of the plan, and thankfully enough, a friend offered to run with me for part of the run. We chose a looped trail which was perfect, especially since I was tried of pavement pounding and needed some nature TLC. The first 9 miles flew by literally, as I enjoyed the cooler temps, beautiful trail, and some chill music. I was so thrilled to see my friend around mile 9, and the remaining 11 miles were history. My body was tired and I was ready to be done with the run, but I am very thankful to have had the company and support to help keep me going on this run. It didn't hurt that there was ice cream afterwards!

The joy I feel seeing my friend at mile 9

Another great coach's quote this week was Be somebody's hero, even if that somebody is you. Believe in what you do so that others can believe in themselves, too." Manny Edelstein. I really found this to speak to me, as I really felt the confidence in myself and what I can do more this week than ever. Leave it to peak week to pull that out of me! Additionally, I was busy raising money for Team PAWS, and it really is some nice extra motivation to be a hero for these homeless animals. Especially on a week where PAWS Chicago drove to Houston to rescue animals from the hurricane, I couldn't have felt this more. I am extremely proud to be running for such a great charity. 

Week 12 is going to be interesting. I signed up for a trail half marathon on Sunday the 10th, and while I intend to use this run as a true training run, I also want to make sure I have semi-fresh legs for the race. While week 12 is not a cut back week, the long run is actually a fast finish long run, which I still plan to do, but may shorten it a bit so that I can still run the race and enjoy it. The McMillan plan is big on these fast finish long runs. I did one last week and then have another scheduled in 3 weeks. The plan is now alternating high mileage weeks with fast finish long runs of slightly less mileage. I really see the benefit to these types of runs as it helps me better pace. With this in mind, I am going to try to stick to the plan as best I can this week in prep for the race and see how it goes. I know some may not see the benefit to racing so close to a marathon, mostly because it deviates from the plan, but this is a risk I am willing to take. It's a race I've always wanted to run and I don't feel as if this will hurt my training - only better supplement it and keep me mentally focused.

All runs should end with ice cream

Comments

  1. Nice week and congrats on the 20 miler!

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    Replies
    1. thanks! It always feels good to put that one behind me. I have another one coming up next weekend....

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