CHICAGO MARATHON TRAINING WEEK 7

Still 2 weeks behind with the updates here... but without further ado, on to Week 7 of marathon training (plus lots of horribly formatted pictures of treadmill screens :|)...

SATURDAY // LONG RUN 

13.2 MILES @ 9:40 MIN/MILE WITH NRC!

This one was a little bit of a struggle after margaritas and martinis the night before. I wasn't hungover, but my muscles felt extra tired. Even so, I successfully left my apartment at 5:20 am to meet up with the NRC group in the West Loop and ran successfully until Mile 11 where I suddenly had to go to the bathroom super badly (*insert "see no evil" emoji here*). I dropped off the back of the group, found a bathroom in Millennium Park, felt way better, and then met everyone back at the end of the run to stretch and hangout.

SUNDAY #1 // RECOVERY RUN

5.7 MILES @ 10:00 MIN/MILE

This was an easy early run around Navy Pier and Chicago's Riverwalk. I ended up doing it around 8:30 am and it felt so good to be done by 9:30. It was pretty quiet out and a bit dreary, but I enjoyed my alone time and stumbled upon a weird deer statue. Also, perhaps the best part of my run worth mentioning is that I literally ran straight into Target upon finishing. The Target closest to me and Joe has a 100 foot gently sloped ramp going into it and automatic sliding doors so I ran to the end of the ramp and then stopped my running app lol. Then I bought more Gatorade powder (essential for summer running) and Claritin (technically the generic version), because I'm allergic to myself.

SUNDAY #2 // GYM

1 MILE @ 7:45 MIN/MILE + 10:00 MINUTES OF ELEVATION (.9 MILES / +298 FT)

Joe decided to go to the gym Sunday afternoon and I joined him to lift weights and run a few on the treadmill. I started with a fast mile, did some exercises in between including 8 minute abs (ouch), and then finished by seeing how much elevation I could cover in 10 minutes. It turns out my bar is set at 298 feet, which is probably more elevation than I covered in all 28 miles of last weeks training.

MONDAY // TREADMILL 

10:00 MINUTES OF ELEVATION (1 MILE / +306 FT)

After testing myself with some elevation on Sunday, I wanted to see if I could beat it on Monday. I was definitely more tired, but beat my personal best by 8 feet.

TUESDAY // SPEED RUN WITH NRC

2X: .5 MILES (10K) + .5 (5K) + .25 (5K) + .5 (5K) + .25 (5K TO MILE) -- (5 MILES TOTAL)

This one was HARD. But it was good. It was humid again and just fast. Made it through though. (The pic above from after the workout when I was literally sitting on the train platform with a few other runners.)

THURSDAY // TEMPO RUN (TREADMILL)

4.8 MILES @ 8:26 MIN/MILE , 1.2 MILES @ 8:40 MIN/MILE (6 MILES TOTAL)

This was another hard workout, but surprisingly manageable. Sometimes I look at the paces on a treadmill and ask myself how I'm maintaining them, but I really just need to stop looking and keep running based on feel. I actually ended up stopping during the first 4.8 miles after running 1.7 miles when I accidentally knocked the emergency switch... but oh well. I quickly restarted and kept going. Then I finished with another 1.2 which was supposed to be tempo to 10K pace, but ugh. I was tired.

TOTAL // 32.8 MILES