Chicago Marathon Training Week 5

For some reason I love the number “5” and anything that is an increment of “5”. So with this past week being week #5 of marathon training, I knew it would be a good week and I was not wrong. Well, not perfect but still a good week.

*Week #5, July 7-13

Monday: 1 mile WU, 4 x 800m @9:40 (2 min RI), 1 mile CD
Boom. Done. WU and CD @10:32, 800s @9:34. Pace felt sort of easy. Weird how I can hold this pace on a treadmill but really struggle when I am outside.

Tuesday: 45 Min XTrain
Took my first yoga class at CorePower Yoga. The class was at 6am so I left my house at 5:15. It usually takes me 10-15 minutes to get there. I wanted to get there early to introduce myself to the teacher and get settled in. However, I was not expecting the traffic. Sometimes I forget that people do work and are not on summer break like me. I arrived at 5:45, met the instructor and went to the room. The first thing I noticed was that the room was not as hot as bikram yoga. It felt so much more comfortable. Another thing I noticed is that you could take your phone to class. In bikram yoga that is definitely a no no.

downtownforyoga — The view before walking into CorePower Yoga.

I really liked the class. The poses were not as difficult as I thought they were going to be. There were a few I struggled with but I know eventually I’ll get the hang of them. I will admit though that I was sore for two days…especially my arms. For now I plan to take this class at 6am but we’ll see what I do once I go back to work in August.

Wednesday: Run 45 mins @ 10:45 pace
Ran for 45 minutes for total of 4.23 miles @10:37.

Thursday: 6 mile run: 1 mile WU, 4 miles @9:50 pace, 1 mile CD
Coach Sara told me “Try not to rest in between the 4 miles.” Ugh, bad day. Ran 1 mile WU and then ran .96. It was frustrating for me. I was bitchy in the morning. I don’t want this to always be an excuse but I am still trying to turn this into a motivation. I know something similar happened last month so notice the pattern? Yeah, not pretty. Moving on.

Friday: Rest/Stretch

Saturday: Chinatown 5k
Good race. Read my race recap. First mile @9:00 is my fastest ever!! As usual I started off too fast, slowed down, and then picked it up at the end. Finish time is 30:33 for 3.12 miles for average pace of 9:45.

Sunday: Rest/Stretch
I did a fun run with Fort2Base Ambassador Matt Hunt. We met at Yankee Woods in Oak Forest. Great place to run. The weather was nice at the beginning but then got too warm for me.

We ran one loop together which is 3 miles. I had to do 7 so I stayed to do another loop. Struggled a bit as I was finishing up my second loop. I thought for sure I had done 6 miles but surprisingly my watch showed 5.47. I couldn’t not figure out why and still don’t know but I am not going to worry about it.

It is a really nice place to run. There weren’t that many people on the course but maybe there were earlier (we started at 9am). It took me about 20 minutes to get there so it is definitely a place I would go again. Oh, and no water on the course so I had to take my own.

*Runs on treadmill are done on 1% incline.

Thoughts:

Have you taken a class at Flywheel? I’ve heard so many great things about it and plan to go on Wednesday.

Don’t forget to sign up for ZOOMA Chicago, Saturday, August 2nd, Burnham Harbor. It will be a fun weekend!

My phone still does not turn on. I think now I need to get a new one.

Are you planning to run the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon in November? I have a room at All Star Sports with a great rate of $133 but need a roommate.