Chicago Week 9 Training

After last week's much needed cutback this was the time to get back into the swing of things. Decided I wasn't going to worry too much about mileage, just run when I could and keep everything easy except for Tuesday's tempo and Sunday's long run. Turned out OK.

• Monday - 5 easy
• Tuesday - Tempo, 8 miles at 6:30 - these are the cornerstone of my training and they are going well.
• Wednesday - took a day off after running the last 7 in a row.
• Thursday - a very hilly 9 miler on some new trails - great run
• Friday - a morning 12 miler and it felt great, the spring was back in the step, and 12 miles at under 7:30 pace on the hills felt easy. Did another hilly 7 in the evening but much slower, as it was almost 100 degrees out there.
• Saturday - Life took over and running was out the window, which given the 100 degree heat was probably a good thing
• Sunday. Marathon sanity test run. A fairly tough workout of 22 miles with 12 at marathon goal pace (6:52). Did 6 easy, then 12 at 6:49 and the 4 easy miles to bring me home. Felt pretty good - 22 overall at 7:15 pace. This was a few seconds faster and heartrate was 2 beats lower than the last time I ran a test like this (back in April before Ottawa) so I am feeling confident for Chicago.

So 64 for the week. Less than I had on the schedule (85) but I have realised that runnng too much mileage is going to backfire and things will break. Next week schedule say 95, but my body is saying 70.

Chicago Training - Week 8

A much easier week this week, and I feel much better as a result. Only 43 miles, which felt like not running at all after the last few weeks. I am over all of the aches and pains from last week so it seems to have worked and I am now ready to go into the final phase of my Chicago training.

• Monday - off
• Tuesday - off
• Wednesday - easy 5 at 8:10 pace
• Thursday - a pseudo tempo. 2 miles at 6:20, 5 miles overall
• Friday - an easy 10 miler at 8:11
• Saturday - 6 miles at the track, with 7x100m (5-18s) and 1 mile at 5:57
• Sunday - 17 miles at 8:00 pace

The race is 7 weeks today, so now it's 4 big weeks then tapering over the final 3. I am going to adjust the next 4 weeks a little, and probably bring the mileage down a bit to make sure I get to the start in one piece (plan currently says 85, 95, 100, 90 - which will probably do some damage).

Hopefully the weather cooperates in Chicago and I can get a good sub-3 result - then I can turn my attention to something easier, like knitting.

Chicago Week 7 Training

Finally! I am, at last, done with a pretty tough week. The 3rd big week in a row, +very busy at work, +lots going on at home, +a cold/sinus problem = quite a rough 91 miles. Knees ache, shins ache and I can feel that my hernia is not 100% better when I run this much. Desperately hoping that a cutback week next week sorts all of that out.

Here's the rundown for last week.....

• Monday - started with an easy 8 miler
• Tuesday - a good tempo with 8 miles at 6:31 pace, followed by a steady 8 in the evening
• Wednesday - easy 7, no time to double
• Thursday - messed around at the track in the morning with a bunch of 400s in 80-90s, but nothing that was all that useful or impressive
• Friday - a solid hilly 14 miler
• Saturday - 7 in the morning, 9 in the afternoon
• Sunday - 22 long, flat miles, not particularly quick

Overall an OK, but not great, week - Tuesday's tempo was good, everything else was pretty much just alright.

Next week the schedule calls for 70 but I am going to take it very easy and not worry about miles. I have one more big up cycle before Chicgao (the following 4 weeks are 85/95/100/90) so I want to go into that phase feeling as fresh as possible. I'll skip Monday, and then take it day by day the rest of the week. I suspect I'll come in around 50-60 with very little in the way of hard running. Sunday calls for 17 miles with 13 at marathon pace, which would be a good confidence builder, but right now I am not looking forward to it.

Perhaps I am getting to old too run this much......

Chicago Week 6 Training

6 weeks down, 9 weeks to go. Biggest week of this training cycle so far, at 91 miles. Average for the first 6 weeks has been around 73 miles. Average for the next 6 should be just under 90 if things continue to hang together, so this is definitely going to stress the system.

11 runs this week, so 4 double days. Feeling a little tired from it all but nothing unexpected.

• Monday - AM easy 5, PM easy 5
• Tuesday - AM easy 6, PM tempo 11 w 8 at 6:30 pace - a good run
• Wednesday - AM easy 5
• Thursday - PM easy 5
• Friday - AM 12 medium long, PM easy 6
• Saturday - AM easy 8, PM hot & hilly 6
• Sunday - AM 21 mile long run, PM a bucket load of beer

Next week is up again, to around 95 miles. That will probably be 11 runs again, so I need to start stretching those easy 5's out to easy 6-7 milers. I'll do another long tempo run as I feel they are critical for marathon training, may do track on Thursday, or may skip it, will depend how the legs are feeling. By the end of next week when I finish with a 23 miler it will have been 24 consecutive running days and I will be looking forward to a cutback week with a day off!

Chicago Week 5 Training

After last week's cutback and successful half marathon it was back to the regular schedule this week. Plan was for about 75 miles over 8 runs (so 1 double day). Wasn't sure how I was going to feel after trashing my legs at the SF half, so I had decided I would allow myself to bail on anything if it didn't feel good.

• Monday - very easy 7.5 at 8:30 pace at lunchtime. quads definitely feeling Sunday's run but overall not too bad.
• Tuesday - easy 7.5 in the morning and a short (3 mile at 6:23) tempo in the evening. Ran the tempo a little slower than normal - no problems.
• Wednesday - 8.5 miles at 7:40 pace
• Thursday - an easy 6
• Friday - 11 at 8:07 pace with some hills
• Saturday - a nice hot noon run at the track. decided to run a variety of distances "fast". started with 100m, did 3 of them with the fastest being 15.47 (4:09 pace), then 200 in 33s, 400 in 77s, 800 in 2:53, 1200 in 4:23 and 1600 in 6:02. then it was time to come back down, so i did the 1200 but could only manage 4:32, so i called it a day. next time i will see if i can get all the way back to down the 100s, hitting the same times on the way down as the way up. fun stuff
• Sunday - a 19 miler thru the hills. had the added excitement of tripping over my running buddy as he fell to the ground having tripped over an imaginary, invisible something or other. my first ever fall. it was on a gravel path so cut my hands, elbow and knees but i think i'll survive.
• Total - 77 miles and not feeling too bad.

Next week it steps up to 85 miles and in terms of workouts I'd like to get a longer 7+ mile tempo in, another trip to the track for another ladder workout, and then a 21 miler to wrap things up at the weekend. Everything else will be 8ish pace.