Week thirteen is in the books! I can not believe that I’ve completed over three months of training and just have FIVE weeks until the race! 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. A few weeks ago, 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, so please do link up!
Monday: 3×2 mile repeats. I switched my schedule around this week to account for our vacation to Vegas, so Monday was my strength workout day. I took it easy on my warm up, then settled in for my sets. This was a hard but strong workout and my pace was right on.
Tuesday: 5.2 easy miles. My legs were burning and I did NOT want to run but I got it done, because, well, why not?
Wednesday: My tempo run shifted to Wednesday because of our vacation. This was the second week of nine tempo miles and the second week of running my tempo by feel. This run was HARD. I was tired, my mind knew it was supposed to be rest day but I wasn’t resting and I just wasn’t pumped. On the positive side, I got it done and my splits were all on point – all in the general range I’ve been running my tempos – averaging about 9:20. I was thrilled to finish that run – after I finished, I realized I’d run my highest monthly mileage EVER – 215 miles!
Thursday: Rest day – we flew out to Vegas for a bit of vacation time!
Friday: Long run, Vegas style. I ran out to see the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Running in Vegas at 6am is an interesting experience, shall we say. 🙂
Saturday: Six miles on the Vegas strip. It was hot and this run was hard. That sentence is basically the theme of my training. Not in a negative way, just in a “stating the facts” kind of way.
Sunday: Rest. I’d planned to not run on Sunday so was okay with taking an extra rest day this week. Especially because we walked on average 5 miles each day while we were in Vegas – it takes awhile to get places out there!
Total mileage for the week: 40.22 miles
Total mileage for the year: 975.61 miles
Total mileage for this training cycle: 435.12 miles
I am running the Chicago marathon to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House Charities – if you would like to support this amazing organization, click here. Thank you!
How was your training this week? Ever run the Strip in Vegas? And please don’t forget to join my Chicago training linkup!

Wow. This training is flying by.
Trip to Vegas – lucky you!! I haven’t been to Vegas since I started running. I want to!!
It was fun! HOT – but lots of fun!
Lucky you on your trip to Vegas and great job of moving things around to make sure you got all of your runs in this week. Not sure if I would have been as dedicated as you. 🙂
Well, I did miss one easy run – but with all the walking we did, I’m totally okay with that 🙂
It looks so warm there! Though the sun is warm in the day here, mornings require sweaters and I MIGHT even have to break out my socks..yuck! Training is on the back burner for me at the moment as I’m dealing with an injury.
It was HOT! Hahaha!! Hope you recover soon!
Wow! Congrats on 215 miles for August!! That’s awesome. You did great last week too even when on vacation!
Thanks Sherry – it was a good month!
I can’t imagine what you must have seen on your long run at 6am in Vegas – lol! Great job on getting in your runs even on vacation – such dedication!
It was crazy! Lots to see, that is for sure!!! 🙂
Way to go! I find it’s sometimes hard to run distances over 4-5 miles while on vacation. I can’t believe we only have a couple weeks left! Whoa!!!
Alaina @ The Simple Peach recently posted…Chicago Marathon Training Update: Week 14
I am literally counting down each of the SOS workouts! 🙂
I cannot believe how time is flying and how well your training is going for Chicago. I visited Vegas a couple of times and had a great time. There is so much to do there besides the normal “strip”.
We had such a fun time in Vegas!
Great training week!
(Ive run the Strip at 5 am and I agree, very interesting. LOL. Also, I felt hard on my legs with the marble flooring in parts and stairs). Next time you are out there try to run at Red Rock National Park. It’s gorgeous!
I thought about heading out to Red Rock but just didn’t have the time – thanks for the rec!
There’s something brilliant about doing runs even when everything is screaming that it’s much better to sit and watch Netflix and do nothing (at least that’s for me) so well done doing it anyway. And it sounds like you’re training is going brilliantly. I’m only just getting back into running and blogging and loving it! London marathon next year.
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Ha, yes I completely agree with you!
Do people look at you funny when you run on the Las Vegas Strip or are there more runners out there? 😉 Good for you for getting those runs in on vacation.
San recently posted…Labor Day Weekend Recap
No one looked at me funny – there are way more crazy things to see, even at that hour. And I did see about one runner every block during my runs!
It sounds like you have gotten some great miles in this week! And running in the hot weather of Vegas?! Badass!
When I went to Vegas with my sister, I didn’t run–I was just overwhelmed by the idea of running on the strip. All those stairs and stuff…glad you were able to make it work! I bet it was entertaining!
My hubby is running this so hopefully I see you from the sidelines! If so will def cheer you on 🙂
I bet running through the Vegas strip would be an experience! I’ve always wanted to do R&R Vegas, but I know my body would refuse to do a night race. I can’t believe you’re just 5 weeks out! That means only 3 weeks then taper. Times flies when you’re having fun!
Great job, Courtney! I can’t wait to see how the big race goes! Hope you had a blast in Vegas! So many people have gone lately, makes me want to take a trip!