Marathon Training, Weeks 4 and 5

15 weeks until race day.

Week 4 was, well, weird.  It had nothing to do with training, but it threw me completely out of my game.  Kourt and I have started planning a wedding, and the first part of the week I was consumed in a weird emotional tug of war with my parents over the whole thing.  I wasn't sleeping well and was carrying a lot of stress, and that just makes me really exhausted.  So we skipped on Sunday.  I went by myself and ran that Tuesday and actually did really well.  I managed to get Kourt to the gym to lift weights that Wednesday, but struck a bargain to skip cardio.  By that Thursday we'd kind of resolved the weirdness with my parents, but both our work shifts were pretty demanding so we skipped again.  And then that weekend I had a high school reunion gathering to go to.  It was great, and I didn't let myself skip my 6 mile long run on Friday, but we ate too much and didn't work out at all the rest of the weekend.

Oddly enough, at the beginning of this week my leg muscles were sore.  It took me a bit to realize that it was from walking around downtown in high heels all Saturday night.  I've gotten very unaccustomed to wearing heels on a regular basis.  The reunion events ran through Sunday, so it wasn't until Tuesday that we got back into the gym, and I was actually still sore.  But I ran.  Didn't make it through all the intervals as planned -- I think it was because it had been too long between my last meal and going to the gym.  But I did the whole distance, just not without modifying the interval lengths.

I got to thinking, though, about the whole running vs walking bit.  I'm challenged by running.  Walking just doesn't challenge me anymore.  I've been doing the incline intervals, and those did kick my ass, but Chicago hosts one of the flattest marathon courses ever.  So why not just keep working on my running?

So we've changed up our routine a bit this week.  On Wednesday, we did two of our three weightlifting workouts together, but no cardio.  Then on Thursday we only did cardio, and I ran shorter but faster intervals with longer rests.

Friday, then, Brenda and I met to do a 10 miler.  We started early because she'd started taking allergy meds that make her drowsy and she didn't want to be still out when the sleepiness kicked in.  Plus, we knew 10 miles would take a bit.  Turns out the sun is still pretty high and hot at 5:30.  But I pushed on.  Brenda bailed after mile 3, partly due to the meds and partly due to residual discomfort from physical therapy on her shoulder that morning.  But I kept on going, and made it in under 3 hours, which I consider pretty good considering how freakin' hot it was.  The sun finally set around mile 8, and after that I had a ton more energy to keep going.  And in the end, 10 miles turned out to be not the challenge I expected it to be.  The only problem I had was that there's a stripe on the tank top I wore that is top-stitched onto the shirt and it chafed against the inside of my upper arm.  It didn't leave much of a mark, but it was an annoyance.  Apparently it's time for a wardrobe change.  Next week's long walk is another 8-miler, and then the week after that it jumps to 12.  I'm curious to see how long these runs get before I start struggling.

I was sore, however, on Saturday.  Not so much in my legs, but tiny little muscle twinges in my arms and shoulders.  So we took Saturday as a rest day, and I think that's going to be a practice I continue.  As the long runs get longer, I think my muscles are going to need that extra rest.

Our new plan, then, is to do double weightlifting sets on Wednesdays and Sundays, and runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and maybe sometimes Mondays if I'm feeling really ambitious), with long runs on Friday nights until the weather cools down again and we can move them back to Saturday mornings.