Chicago marathon: week thirteen
This training week was all about trust. Trust in our training tools. Trust in our running paths. Trust in myself. Training can be tough. Sometimes we forget to focus on the simple things. We forget to monitor our heart rate. We forget to be thankful for local running trails. We forget to believe in myself. With two more long runs still ahead of us, it’s time to get back to trusting the things that will help make us successful.
Chicago Marathon Training Recap: Week Thirteen Monday – Rest. Tuesday – 3 miles. Blah, blah…alarm goes off. Blah, blah.. dressed and out the door in ten minutes. Blah, blah, blah…. running on the same ol’ path. Blah, blah, blah…. when is RACE DAY going to be here???? We used to like our Tuesday morning runs, but now they are starting to feel like it’s our job. If someone could fast forward us to the starting line that would be great. K?. Thanks.
Wednesday – 9 miles – 4.1 miles in the morning. Our morning runs are always bonkers. We swear the craziest things happen at 6am. Case in point. We were running along the Platte River, when out of nowhere, a gaggle of Army recruits came running by us. We were taken off guard at first because there were so many of them and they were wearing bright green reflector belts (major fashion faux pas). Our mind was still waking up and we didn’t fully grasp what happened next. All we know is that out of our peripheral, we saw two guys stop running, hunch over and start puking. We felt bad, but kept running thinking to myself, we're glad that wasn’t us! After we finished our run, we thought if these guys are willing to risk dying for our country’s freedom, then we certainly can’t complain about sore legs, mental crankiness, or fatigue Right? Right.
4.9 miles in the afternoon. Whewwww….. bessie! It was 96 degrees wen we ran after work in Wash Park. Even though we hate getting up in the morning and running, we'll take feeling a little tired over running in desert like temps. We wasn’t excepting a magnificent run. the goal was just to finish the 4.9 miles quickly so we could meet the girls for happy hour. The heat bothered us a little, but surprisingly, our run wasn’t too bad considering all the elements.
Thursday – Rest. Friday – Rest. Saturday – 18 miles. To say we were little nervous about running 18 miles by myself would be an understatement. We're not going to lie, we were a little scared when we hit the High Line Canal trail early on Saturday morning. We had to give myself a little pep talk before we started running – “You can do this. Just take your time and remember, keep your pace steady.” we didn’t get comfortable until after mile five. Apparently we were working out some serious jitters. After mile five, things started to pick up. Our legs felt good and our pace and heart rate were right on target. We felt comfortable and in control, which was a huge sigh of relief when we reached the turn around point. After mile eleven, things started to get a little tricky mainly because the sun was starting to heat everything up. We remembered from the Big D race to keep our heart rate under 170 and to just keep chugging along. There was no way we were going to keel over and die on this trail! Miles 13 to 15 were less than desirable, but we kept telling myself this is where you need to trust yourself and keep going. After mile 15, we swear, we could have ran forever. We had paced myself evenly and by the time we reached 17.5 mile marker, we had enough energy to pick up our pace and finish this run strong!
Sunday – REST! Our feet were freaking sore when we woke up on Sunday morning. Who would of thought running for 3 hours would cause sore feet? Geesh. Needless to say, we spent the majority of our Sunday afternoon either rolling our foot on the log or keeping them elevated. We need these bad boys in tip-top shape come race day! Total miles – 30
