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Chicago Marathon Training Recap: Two Months to Race Day!

August 15, 2016 By: Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC24 Comments

Week ten is in the books! This was the second week of longer tempos and another week of absolutely AWFUL weather. Ugh. I’m hoping it’ll get better soon.  Each week during this training cycle, as I train for the Chicago Marathon, I will share how my training went and what the week looked like. I do this because: 1) I love reading about how other folks train and 2) it’s great for me to have a record of what I did each week. Also, honestly, it helps keep me accountable when I know I’ll be writing about it. I also post almost all of my runs on Instagram as well. Last week I started a link up for Chicago Marathon Training Recaps – I know there are more of us out there so please do link up! I love reading about folks training for the same race as I am. 

Chicago Marathon Training Recap

Monday: 7 miles – the weather was a bit more tolerable so those miles weren’t awful but my legs were definitely tired. Pure Barre after work. 

Tuesday: 4×1200 – all done at pace or faster and I felt very strong throughout the workout. The weather was also better than it had been, which made a huge difference. 

Wednesday: I took a total rest day and it was glorious! 

Thursday: Tempo Thursday. Eight tempo miles and a warm and up and a cool down mile for ten total. I’m trying to figure out my tempo runs. I should be running them at MGP, which is 9:44. I have been faster than that by about twenty seconds every week. I’m reluctant to adjust my goal pace, but I’m going to try and focus this week’s tempo around 9:30 pace and see how that goes. I think because I’m doing my tempos in the same place I did them while training for Shamrock, my body is so dialed in to the low 9 pace I was running those tempos in, that it’s really hard for me to run 30 seconds slower than that for these tempos. 

 

Y’all. The best thing I can say about that run is that it’s done. Well, okay, I also ran really hard, so I guess that’s good. But dang. That nearly did me in. Physically, mentally…the struggle was SO real. I had to stop every mile and convince myself to keep going. But…it’s done and I can add this run to my list of things to draw strength from when the #chicagomarathon gets tough. Tempo mile splits: 9:28/9:06/9:02/9:08/9:24/9:24/9:13/9:24. Next week I will focus on trying to have more consistent tempo splits. I simply can not seem to dial in to anywhere near goal pace (9:44). My legs want to go faster, which I’m okay with but my splits are still pretty uneven. Sigh. On to work when all I really want is a nap!

A photo posted by Courtney (@eatprayrundc) on Aug 11, 2016 at 5:52am PDT

 

Friday: Five miles with my Pure Barre bestie. A total sweatfest. 

Saturday: The weather. Oh man. It was 81 degrees and near 100% humidity when we started at 6am. I was glad we only had ten miles on tap, but I knew they’d be tough. Definitely not an easy run but my legs actually felt great. I ran major negative splits and my last two miles were my fastest (part of that was I just desperately wanted to finish!). Incredibly challenging weather but a solid run. 

Sunday: Four recovery miles before the women’s Olympic marathon. I was so inspired watching that race! Later, I went for a hot stone massage. Felt pretty good except when the masseuse literally pounded on my back. Now my back is sore. Yay?

Total mileage for the week: 42.24 miles

Total mileage for the year: 832.99 miles

Total mileage for this training cycle: 292.5 miles

Please do link up your blog post sharing your marathon training recap if you are also training for Chicago! I’d love to read it!  And don’t forget, if you’d like to help me support Ronald McDonald House Charities, you can do so here. 

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Comments

  1. Zenaida Arroyo says

    August 15, 2016 at 10:25 am

    Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. 🙂 I cannot believe we have 2 months to go. Yikes!

    Great job tackling those tempo miles!

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 15, 2016 at 11:11 am

      You and me both! I’m excited about two months to go – you should be too – you are going to rock it!

      Reply
  2. Kimberly G says

    August 15, 2016 at 10:26 am

    I cannot wait for cooler temps! August has been SO brutal! Great job on getting all of your runs done!

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 15, 2016 at 11:11 am

      As long as the race is cooler, I’m all good 🙂

      Reply
  3. Dodie says

    August 15, 2016 at 3:18 pm

    I have trouble keeping my tempo where they’re suppose to be too. My body knows marathon pace and 5k pace. Half marathon pace feels so foreign. Do you think it’s good or bad to run them faster? I can never decide.
    Dodie recently posted…Half Marathon Training Recap Week 3My Profile

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 16, 2016 at 9:46 am

      I think running them a bit faster as long as other workouts aren’t suffering is okay and just an indication of improved fitness.

      Reply
  4. Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner says

    August 15, 2016 at 4:57 pm

    I am seriously impressed I don’t know how you are doing it with this heat. I am seriously dying lately!
    Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…Blueberry Iced Tea SpritzerMy Profile

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 16, 2016 at 10:12 am

      It is still really hard in this weather but I think I’ve acclimated a bit since I run in it almost every single day.

      Reply
  5. Debra says

    August 15, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    Great week. You’re really killing it, I must say. I was SO inspired watching the women’s marathon on Sunday, too. I actually started getting a little emotional watching them finish. I’m excited to watch the 400 final tonightewerwe

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 17, 2016 at 3:40 pm

      Watching our amazing Olympians is so freaking inspiring!

      Reply
  6. Jennifer @ Dashing in style says

    August 15, 2016 at 7:02 pm

    You’re killing it! Way to conquer a tough week! You’ve been really rocking this training cycle. You should be so proud of yourself! If you’re this far along in training and you’re still running your tempos much faster, I don’t think it would hurt to increase your tempo pace. But do go back and re-read the tempo section of the book. One of the big goals of the runs is to learn control, so I’d say shoot for 9:30 at least the first half of the run and then if you’re still feeling good knock it out of the park for the last half. That’s pretty much what my coach has me doing most workouts.
    Jennifer @ Dashing in style recently posted…Marathon Training Week 6: SpeedMy Profile

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 16, 2016 at 9:45 am

      Are you in the Hansons training fb group? It’s awesome if you aren’t – I actually asked the tempo question and Luke Humphrey weighed in and basically said to keep doing what I’m doing and I should be fine for the race. Which helped calm some of my worries about that!

      Reply
      • Jennifer @ Dashing in Style says

        August 16, 2016 at 11:24 am

        Oh good! You know, after I commented I thought about suggesting posting to the FB group. I love that Luke and the other coaches are so helpful and supportive! I deactived my FB account but have access to their other online forum for coaching subscribers.
        Jennifer @ Dashing in Style recently posted…Marathon Training Week 6: SpeedMy Profile

        Reply
  7. Coco says

    August 15, 2016 at 8:20 pm

    Last week was brutal! At least if it’s warm on race day you will be ready?

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 16, 2016 at 10:13 am

      That’s what I keep telling myself 🙂

      Reply
  8. Hollie Sic says

    August 16, 2016 at 6:53 am

    If you could make it through the weather last week, you can definitely make it through anything. That was so unpleasant. Nice work getting it all done.

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 17, 2016 at 3:42 pm

      Thanks Hollie – the weather continues to be so gross here in DC. I’m getting through it the best I can!

      Reply
  9. Wendy@Taking the Long Way Home says

    August 16, 2016 at 7:00 am

    I continue to be impressed by your training–especially in this tough, hot, sweatfest of a summer. When I trained for my last 2 Chicago marathons, I too had trouble running at my MGP–I trained faster than I should have. It’s hard to run slow! Definitely something I need to work on, especially if I ever train for another marathon.

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 17, 2016 at 3:44 pm

      Tomorrow I’m going to try really hard to dial in to 9:30ish pace for the first half of the tempo run and then see how I feel…

      Reply
  10. Alaina @ The Simple Peach says

    August 17, 2016 at 9:42 am

    Yay for another awesome week! The weather is so miserable. I feel like I have to stop and catch my breath. I am dreaming of fall race temps so we can all run and breathe a little easier! Last week’s training was lack luster and weird, but this week is going off without a hitch. I can’t believe we are like 50 ish days away!!!
    Alaina @ The Simple Peach recently posted…Chicago Marathon Training Update: Week 11My Profile

    Reply
    • Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC says

      August 17, 2016 at 3:45 pm

      Glad to hear that this week is going well for you! Yes, I am also eagerly awaiting fall temps!

      Reply
  11. Jess @ Jess Runs ATL says

    August 17, 2016 at 5:24 pm

    Great week!!! Just think about what your paces will be once the temps drop! It looks like we may get some relief from the heat soon, hang in there! Your training seems to be going really well. How are you feeling, besides tired? Any aches or pains?

    Reply
  12. Karen @ Fit in France says

    August 18, 2016 at 2:05 pm

    You rock ! All I can say is RESPECT for training in those conditions.

    Reply
  13. Shannon @GirlsGotSole says

    August 18, 2016 at 10:33 pm

    Nice job with your training! I think it’s so much hotter this summer than it was last summer. So, I feel for you all training for Fall marathons. I am not doing another marathon until 2017, but even runs of 6-8 miles these days are rough!
    So excited for you, race day is so so close! 🙂

    Reply

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