Week 1 Day 2 & 3 Chicago marathon training

Quick update on how my training has gone over the past couple days.

I am/was scheduled to run the following days/distances; Tuesday 3 miles, Wednesday 5 miles, Thursday 3 miles, Friday rest, Saturday 5 miles and Sunday 8 miles. We are going to the lake and to the Nascar race this weekend so I had to modify the weeks required runs.

I decided to consolidate 3 of the runs to have one 5 mile run (Tuesday) and one 6 mile run (Wednesday). I am moving the remaining 5 mile run to Friday and my 8 mile run to Saturday.

Anyway, Tuesday I ended up splitting the 5 mile run into two runs. I ran 3 miles @ 8:13 pace on the treamdill, followed by upper body lifting and then finished the work out with 2 miles @ 8:06 pace on the treadmill. I felt strong through the entire work out. I lifted for biceps, triceps, shoulders and back doing various free weight & pulley machine exercises. All and all, a great work out.

Then Wednesday came along. I planned on running 6 miles, mapped a route that ended up being 6.34 miles. I decided that I would be fine without taking my fuel belt even though it was warm out. I had hydrated all through-out the day so I figured I would be fine. Wrong! I made it about 2 miles and realized that I needed my water. I was parched! Not only that, but my legs felt so dead. It took all I had to keep moving. and the sun, oh how I love thee but my body was HOT! I ended up having to stop and walk a few seconds about 4-5 times. I pushed on and ran the entire 6.34 miles and was happy to grab that water bottle off my porch when I finished. What was my outcome? Well, I have proven to myself that I am faster then I give myself credit for. For having such a difficult run, having to stop and walk a few times, having to stop and cross 3 major roads, I still had an 8:03 pace!! So what I thought was a horrible run, showed to be a good one. It helped me realize that I am getting faster. My "easy" runs are at a pace that were once my "hard" runs.

I am taking today as a rest day to pack for our trip. I will run 5 miles tomorrow and 8 miles saturday at the lake. I am looking forward to my first loops around the area. It has quite a few challenging hills and will be nice to run on traffic free roads out of the city!