Chicago marathon training: Week One

And here I go again! I'm back on the plan and we've got 12 weeks to get this thing done. Most marathon training plans are 14-16 weeks, but keep in mind that I keep a pretty strong running base year round. Couple that with my weekly CrossFit sessions and yoga classes, and I'm in pretty good shape to jump on the bandwagon. This week, Becky gave me my training plan, and it is similar to last year's with 4 runs/week, an occasional bike ride instead of a run, 1-2 CrossFit sessions per week, and 1 yoga class per week. Built in are 1-2 rest days as well. We've already had to do some tweaking, since we didn't coordinate as well on some of the days, but nothing is set in stone with marathon training!

So how did week one go down?

Monday: 5 miles at race pace. My legs were still tired from last week's strength session and Sunday's bike ride. Nevertheless, I got it done.

Tuesday was supposed to be a CrossFit MetCon session, but my work had other plans for me...having me start at 8am, which wasn't going to work so well with Becky's schedule. Instead, I did another 5 miler. Again, tired legs, but I managed about the same pace. I was also excited that this top from Athleta was finally on sale. Yep, it's all about the fashion..

Wednesday: Yoga. My instructor attended a workshop the previous weekend, and for this class we did everything against the wall. It was all about the glutes and hamstrings, and I heard the now familiar refrain: "we are all quad dominant". Didn't you just hear that in my previous post about strength training and injury prevention? It was kind of funny to hear it in a yoga class, but there it was. This was a hard class but my legs felt better for it. 

Twisted pigeon. Note my back foot pressing into the wall and my knee is off the ground. I felt this one!

Thursday was my usual double workout of running and CrossFit. I had speedwork on the plan, mile repeats x 5. I haven't done speedwork for a few months now, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I set a goal for myself of sub-8 minute miles. Of course, the last time I did speedwork, it was cold out. This morning was 72 degrees with bright sunshine. Miles 1-3 were fine. Mile 4 started to get in my head, and mile 5 took everything I had not to quit. That last mile was all mental, but I was really proud of myself that I pushed through it and got it done, even though it was slower than I wanted. They can't all be pretty... you know I'm all about keeping it real. This was hard.

After this grueling workout, I went home, showered, ate, and went to see Becky. I won't lie to you, as hard as her workouts are, this is my favorite part of marathon training. Becky's been watching the CrossFit games, and was apparently inspired. The first part of my workout she had me pulling the sled. On my first pass, some guy in a truck stopped to watch me. Dude, nothing to see here, just a runner pulling a sled, now move on... I did 6 of those, alternating with me picking up a 50# sack off the ground, carrying it over to the boxes and putting it on top. It was harder than it looks! I finally figured out how to pick up the sack and get it up to my shoulders so I could hoist it up to the boxes. Marathon training? Really? Hey, whatever works! 

The last time I wore this shirt to CF, she made me carry one of these sacks on my back. Coincidence? I think not.

Friday was a "rest day". Or as Becky calls it, active rest. I did some yoga in the morning from Lululemon. Did you know they have a whole YouTube channel with just yoga videos? They had a great yoga for recovery workout, and I learned a new variation on shoulderstand. This felt amazing.

Supported shoulderstand

After yoga, I put the kayak on my car and headed out to meet one of my oldest friends for a day on the river. As it turns out, I had to buy a state sticker for my kayak. Seriously. Yes, Illinois is the most scamming state in the US. It wasn't an easy process either, and we spent about an hour trying to get that taken care of. Finally, we put our kayaks in the water and paddled downstream. We stopped for lunch at a riverside restaurant, and then headed back out. The wind had picked up, and we felt like we weren't making any forward progress. So we turned around and headed back, letting the wind take us. What a great way to spend the day!

"The sea was angry, my friends," I said. To which E. replied, "Ok, George". Still cracks me up. Maybe you had to be there...

Saturday I had plans to ride in a 25 mile bike ride for Venus de Miles, which is a charity that supports the Greenhouse scholars. I'll have a recap on Tuesday, but I will share that I rode more than 25 miles. At one point in the ride there was a rest stop, and I didn't want to stop. The volunteer flagged me the wrong way, and I ended up riding about 6 extra miles. I was exhausted after this ride. When making my marathon training plan, Becky and I got our signals crossed. On the plan, this was supposed to be a 4 mile run. Oops. I spent the rest of the day with my feet up, to rest them for tomorrow's long run.

Sunday was my long run. After that epic bike ride, I didn't want to go know how this planned 10 miler would go. Wanting to work on pacing, I set a goal pace of 9-930 min/mi, figuring that would be a good cruising speed for my tired legs. I prepared a bottle of Tailwind and headed out into the humid morning. I had foam rolled the night before and my legs felt surprisingly ok. Here's how it went down: 

That 9:28 is because of a giant hill with a steep incline. I actually had to stop to catch my breath at the top. Otherwise, the run went well, and I even had negative splits on the back half. Don't get me wrong, at mile 8, my brain was telling me to stop. I kept reminding myself that this is how I felt at mile 23 last year at Chicago, and used that memory to push myself through the hard final miles of today's run. I mean, if I quit on a 10 miler, how can I expect to hit my goal at a marathon? This was a great lesson for me, and this run set the tone for me as I approach the rest of my marathon training. And yes, I pulled out my mantras. It helped that I had some fun, motivating songs playing in my ears too. Have you ever listened to Diane Young by Vampire Weekend? That put a spring in my step as I sang the refrain out loud: "Baby, baby, baby, right on time..." 

Because yep, my pace was right on time!

What are you training for? How's the training going? Any songs you want to throw my way to perk up my playlist?

I'm linking up with Tara at RunningNReading for her Weekend Update. It's a fun linkup where everyone recaps what they're up to. Check it out!