Chicago Marathon Training: Week #8

Fast Start

On Sunday, my final Chicago Marathon training week (#8) got off to a fast start. I was still recovering from my final long run last weekend, so the plan was to run 11 miles and then add three miles of recovery later in the afternoon.  It was nice and cool at 7:30 am when I hit the road down to the Lakefront Trail. After a one mile warm-up, I decided to see if I could hold a sub-marathon pace for the entire run. 

 

Runnin' by the lake

I ran about a 7:00/mile average pace for the next 10 miles, which felt fantastic and was not a struggle at all. If the weather was a tad cooler that day, I might have opened up the speed a little more.  However, it shows a little discipline that I didn't get overly aggressive on this long run, which kinda goes against my nature. This slow start long run shows me that that is how I run best: negative splits. I would like my marathon split regression line to have the same general slope as the one that went through this run:

Regression line sloping from left to right = good!

Total Miles: 11 @ 7:07/mile.
3 Mile recovery later in the day.

Track Work Thursday:
I was really cautious going into this track session. I had been running fast all week, so I felt that doing the Hanson prescribed six miles at 10 seconds below marathon pace was too much and might be tempting "injury fate". So I decided to just do four, but do my warm-ups and cool-downs a little faster.

At the track between my intervals

My splits:

1.75 mile warm-up
2 miles at 6:28, .25 mile recovery
1 miles at 6:18, .25 mile recovery
1 mile at 6:15
1.75 mile cool-down

Okay, these splits were substantially below my marathon pace. I guess I can't help but run too fast when I hop on the track. That's just how I train: Too fast. I am just thankful that I had the forethought to step away after four miles and not to push myself too too hard.

Summary

I matched my second highest training mileage of this cycle and my taper finally starts. I am running faster than I ever thought I would after just eight weeks. Next week, I am just going to run slowly and put in around 25 miles. If the weather is cool next Sunday, I should at least be able to get a course PR sub 3:10 marathon.

Stay tuned for my next post when I summarize my training and make a final marathon pace prediction!

Week #8 Total: 53 miles
Average Pace: 7:20
Other Training: 4 strength workouts and 2 yoga sessions

Eight weeks down, one to go!