Last week was week 6 of my Chicago Marathon training. It was also the final training week for the Capitol Mile!
I always like the 6 week point, because that is when everything starts feeling like it is coming together and I start feeling pretty fit. This season is no exception.
Because it was a race week, my coach took it pretty easy on me. Here are how things shook out.
Monday is my rest day, so I took advantage of a little extra sleep.
Tuesday our last track workout was cancelled at the last minute due to the extreme heat. I really wanted to get some workout in, but was dreading the idea of the treadmill. However, it was super hot when I got home from work. After procrastinating a bit, I finally bit the bullet and headed out for a 40 minute run. Lucky me, it started raining! Wow, what a difference some (much needed) rain makes. It felt so good I stretched my run out to 64 minutes and got in 7.4 miles (8:59 pace).
Wednesday morning, the boys and I got up bright and early (5:00 am) to meet my friend Michelle to do our last track workout. Unfortunately it was pouring and storming, so the boys naturally did not want to get out there. Michelle and I did our warm up in some light (but moving away thunder), then James joined us for our last workout (Jake threw in the towel). We did drills and pickups; then 600m; 2 x 400m; 3 x 300m; 4 x 100m. It was actually pretty fun doing these in the rain. Logged just a hair over 5 miles total.
Thursday morning it was warm and 94% humidity even at 5:30 am. I logged 5 easy miles (8:59 pace).
Friday was an easy Fartlek: 8×1 min @ 5k pace; 2 minutes easy. I had 4 strides on the agenda too, but during the 3rd one my left hip flexor screamed at me, so I took it in easy. Ended up with 5 miles at 8:20 average pace. Friday night, my father-in-law came into town and he hung out with the boys while John and I went on a super easy (read slow) bike ride.
Saturday I only had 20 minutes on the agenda!! Crazy. I did some gardening in the morning and accidentally threw my prescription running sunglasses ($$$) into the woods with all the weeds I pulled. Yikes!! I searched for them for 40 minutes to no avail; ran for 22 minutes (2.7 miles w/4 strides); then thankfully found them when I searched a second time. Whew!
Sunday was the Capitol Mile. I decided to jump into the elite race, which had been combined with the men (seeded 5:00). There were only 5 women and I was very afraid I’d come in last. But I didn’t and I had a solid race! 6:09. This was ultimately good for 4th overall and 1st in my age group. Race report coming soon.
Total: 28.6 miles running / 12.5 miles cycling
Now it time to get back to ramping up the miles and focusing on the Chicago marathon (well, almost – more on that too later)!
