Week 10 is done and there’s no sugar-coating it – it was a rough one!

The combination of a chaotic and stressful work schedule, an ITB flare-up, and ongoing sleep struggles made for a perfect storm.

Chicago Marathon Training Week 10

Monday — Yoga and a trip to the acupuncturist to try to calm a cranky ITB.

Tuesday — The legs were feeling much better and despite another night of lousy sleep, I was able to get 5 early morning miles done.

Wednesday — 6 miles.

Thursday — My struggle for a good night sleep had caught up with me and I ended up hitting the snooze button a couple of times but still had enough time for a short run and some core work.

Friday — I was up and out the door early for round 1 of event set-up for work so there was no time for a morning run, but I did manage to sneak in 6 miles before the day was done.

Saturday — It was event day for work so I was up by 2:30 am to be out the door by 3 and on the road to the event location. 12 hours of final set-up, event management (including playing race director for a 5K/10K), and event tear-down followed. To say I was toast by the day’s end would be an understatement.

Sunday — Given yesterday’s non-stop pace, I knew it would be asking a lot to hit the 12 miles on my plan. My legs were not on board at all and by mile 4 I started to be concerned that I was going to do more harm than good if I continued. I called my husband to pick me up and by the time he got to me, I’d only hit 5 miles. Never a great feeling to cut a long run short but I think I made the right call.

Total miles for the week – 25.5
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 221.1

I am so glad to have this week behind me! Things should be quieter on the work-front this week, and best of all I have a couple of days off. My two big goals for the week are to focus on my PT exercises for my IT band and to get some much-needed sleep.

How was your week? Do you cut runs short or try to push through?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

Chicago Marathon training week 9 is in the books which means I’ve officially reached the halfway point! Say what now?! This week definitely challenged me! Here’s how things went down.

Chicago Marathon Training Week 9

Monday — Rest day.

Tuesday — 4-mile run. I wasn’t feeling so hot in the morning so this became an afternoon run. And, given how stressful work was, this road therapy was so needed!

Wednesday — 6 miles and a glimpse of the start of a new day.

Thursday — 6.25 miles. While mile 1 was a sluggish mess, things quickly settled down and this ended being my best run of the week!

Friday — Rest day.

Saturday — 14.2 miles and a new personal distance record!

Sunday — A 4-mile recovery run is on the schedule for today, but my left knee wasn’t feeling so great this morning so I may opt for either a walk later or some yoga – or both.

Total miles for the week – 30.45
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 195.6

Managing the long runs

Saturday’s run went much better than last week’s 12-miler. I did a much better job of managing my fueling for this week’s long-run – though there’s still room for improvement. It also helped that the humidity of the past few days broke and temps were in the mid-60s for a majority of the run. Just like last week, I did the run in two parts: an 8-mile loop stopping at my house for a quick bathroom break and then on for the final 6.

The struggle bus started tailing me around the 10.5-mile mark, but thankfully I crossed paths with my oldest son who was out running 6 and he helped to “pace” me. While I couldn’t keep up with him, I made it my goal to just keep him in my sights and it really helped to have him to focus on. Self-doubt started to really creep in at 12-miles – I was starting to feel sore and tired, and the thought of two more miles felt like too much. Hearing my Garmin beep at 14 miles was just the sweetest sound!

Having tried a few different fueling options over the past three weeks, I’ve had the best results so far with SIS Salted Strawberry, along with Tailwind. So I’ll be ordering more SIS for the weeks ahead.

Overall, I’m really happy with the way my training’s been going so far and I’m ready for the next 9 weeks

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

Is it possible to feel on one hand like the days are flying by, but on the other hand feel like this past week was the longest week ever?!

Well, that pretty much sums up my past week. It was a stressful work week, but training kept chugging along. I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down. This is a great link-up for motivation and inspiration!

Chicago Marathon Training Week 7

Monday – Rest Day!

Tuesday – 5-mile run. It was raining hard when my alarm went off so I pushed my run to the afternoon and was rewarded with a break in the heatwave!

Wednesday – 5 miles with Coach Marc. I always enjoy catching up with Marc for a run – it gives us a chance to talk about how training is going and I can work on my chi running form cues. As always, we spotted a lot of wildlife during the run, but seeing this little guy (and his friends) crossing the road stopped us in our tracks!

Thursday – 6 more miles plus yoga.

Friday – Rest day and a trip to the acupuncturist.

Saturday – 10 miles. This was just a hard run from start to finish. You know those days where you’re just not feeling the run – yeah that was this day for me.

Sunday – 3 miles. My husband and son decided to join me for my recovery run this morning – but truth be told, my son left us in the dust fairly quickly. He opted to do 4, we stuck with 3.

Total miles for the week – 29
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 133.15

I stuck with my plan for short strength/pre-hab workouts this week along with core work. As the miles increase, I think this will prove to be the best way to fit in some strength training.

So that’s my weekly run down! How was your week?

Could someone please find a way to slow these days down a little?! While the summer heat is making running a challenge, I am by no means ready to wish away the season.

And, speaking of days flying by, it’s hard to believe that I’ve now finished 5 weeks of marathon training. Here’s how the week went down.

Chicago Marathon Training Week 5

Monday — 4-mile run.

Tuesday — Spent all day at a conference for work so this was a “rest” day.

Wednesday — 5.25-mile run. This run was the highlight of the week! There was a break in the humidity, and everything just seemed to click.

Thursday — 5-mile run. Oh, what a difference a day makes! The humidity came roaring back and this run was just a miserable slog.

Friday — Yoga.

Saturday — Narragansett Summer Running Festival 10K (recap to come)

a total sweat fest, but so much fun!

Today was all about hanging at the beach!

Total miles for the week — 20.45

Despite the humidity, the miles rolled along. I knew it was going to be a challenge with my schedule to fit a strength workout in, so I switched things up and went with daily core work and that worked well. Coach Marc wants to try 5 days of running this week so I may stick with shorter strength workouts. I want to keep up the core work and key exercises focusing on my hips and glutes. I’ll be curious to see how I feel running for 5 days.

How was your week? How many days a week do you typically run?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

Happy Monday!

Last week was just crazy – I was prepping for a major event at work which went off on Saturday. The days were long, but I’m happy to say that somehow I managed to get my runs done and the first week of marathon training is in the books!

Chicago Marathon Training Week 1

Monday – After running both Saturday and Sunday, I woke up Monday feeling very sluggish. I knew I had quite a full workday ahead so I made this a rest day.

Tuesday – Strength training (upper body)

Wednesday – 9-mile run. Given the work event I had coming up on the weekend, I decided to get my long run for the week done.

Thursday – Brief yoga session.

Friday – Spent most of the day at event set-up, but still managed to get a 6-mile run in. My legs were fried!

Saturday – Work event! I was on my feet all day playing race director. The event went really well!

Sunday – 5-mile run.

It was just me and a little wildlife on this run!

All-in-all a pretty good week! I was especially happy with the way Wednesday’s run went – while I won’t make a habit of it, I must admit it did feel nice to have the week’s long run done before the weekend.

For this coming week, I’ll be moving to up to 4 runs per week – this schedule should still give me enough time for at least one strength training day and hopefully, some time on my yoga mat.

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down link-up – this is a great link-up for accountability and motivation so if you write a weekly training recap, be sure to join the fun!

In case you missed it:  Five Tips to Become an Early Morning Runner