Marathon Training – Zenaida Arroyo

Category: Marathon Training

15
Oct
2019

Tuesday Topics: My favorite running books

I love to read! It makes me sad to see my students struggle with reading. Many read very slow and then many times have no idea what they just read. We have independent reading time every single day and I hope this does not make them dislike reading.

This week’s Tuesday Topic: What are your favorite running books? You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to Link-up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!

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Here are a few great books I’ve read:

Born to Run: I loved reading about the Tarahumara Indians and their barefoot running. They’re amazing natural ultramarathoners! I remember learning about chia seeds. 🙂

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Run Less, Run Faster: If you “only” have time to run 3 days a week, then this book/plan is for you. I am pretty positive I used their plan for one of my races. There is also an app where you add the race distance, date, and calculated 5k and you will get your 3 runs and paces for each week leading up to the race.

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Hansons Marathon Method: I have the books for the marathon and half marathon. The plans are intense but doable. For the 2016 Chicago Marathon I trained using this method. I was aiming to finish under 5 hours, but I didn’t. I did get a PR so that counts, right? You can read what I wrote about it HERE.

HansonsTrainingPlan

Boston Bound: It is an easy to read book that details Elizabeth Clor’s struggles as she attempts to get a BQ. She tried for 7 years and finally qualified in October of 2014. She ran the Boston Marathon on April 18, 2016.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul – Running for Good: I read about this book in Wendy’s blog. Immediately I ordered it from Amazon. I could not put it down. The book is full of wonderful stories of runners talking about their struggles, goals, and accomplishments. I loved that each story began with a motivational quote.

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Living with a Seal: Another book from Wendy’s blog. This book is HILARIOUS! Jesse invites a Navy Seal to come live with him and to train him to get in shape. His only condition is that Jessie does everything he tells him to do. I don’t think I would last a day with him.

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I am currently reading “Meb for Mortals. I bought this book last year before the Chicago Marathon. I know, I know, that was a year ago. I should have finished it by now.

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Any other good running books I should read?

29
Apr
2018

Illinois Marathon Training Recap, Week 22

categories: Illinois Marathon, Marathon Training, Running, Weekly Recap

Illinois Marathon-2

Week #22, April 23-29

M Ran 3.61
T 4.35
W 2.86
TH Rest
F Ran 1.60
S Rest
S Ran 13.27

My last week of training! I did one quality session (which I was shocked that I had to do) and the rest of my runs were done at an easy pace

Monday morning I had a professional development at school so I didn’t have to get in early. I went running in the morning and enjoyed seeing the sun.

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On Tuesday I went out in the evening (later than I wanted to) for my last quality session workout (10 minutes warm up, 6×400@2:40 per rep, and 10 minutes cool down). Boom! Mission accomplished!

Friday was my last run (20 minutes) and I took my time and enjoyed it.

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I went to work for 1/2 day and then drove to Champaign for the marathon. It was a long drive (2.5 hours). My race didn’t go as I expected. Spoiler alert: I did instead the half marathon. I will have a recap of the race on Tuesday.

Total mileage for the week: 25.70
Total mileage for this training cycle: 488.79
Total mileage for the year: 409.95

Here’s how training has gone so far:
• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11
• Week 12
• Week 13
• Week 14
• Week 15
• Week 16
• Week 17
• Week 18
• Week 19
• Week 20
• Week 21

That concludes my training for the Illinois Marathon. I am signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon in October but I think for now I will hang my marathon running shoes. I have a few races I want to PR (5K, 10K, 10 miles, and half marathon) and would like to focus on will like to focus instead on those race distances.

22
Apr
2018

Illinois Marathon Training Recap, Week 21

categories: Brooks Running, Illinois Marathon, Marathon Training, Running, Weekly Recap

Illinois Marathon-2

Week #21, April 16-22

M Ran 10.76
T Rest
W 6.52
TH 2.49
F Ran 2.89
S Ran 5.90
S Ran 2.49

Before I tell you about my week, can we talk about Desi winning The Boston Marathon!!!! Wow, so amazing! I was watching it in my classroom when she was in 2nd place, then I stopped watching (can’t remember how long) and then the next thing I knew, she was in 1st place. Beautiful!!!

Have you seen this Tweet of a video of here crossing the finish line? Watch it as many times as you want. I know I did.

I missed my long run this past weekend. My coach asked me if I could do it on Monday. I told her yes but then found out we were expecting snow. Oh boy. When I got home I didn’t want to run. I wanted to read more about Desi and The Boston Marathon. Also, I was cold and tired. I asked my coach if it would be horrible if I didn’t run. See the message below. That and Desi’s win was enough to get me out there. I did. And it wasn’t bad at all.

Illinois Marathon-193 My run was 40 minutes warm up, 3×10 minutes @10:43 with 400m recovery, 2×5 minutes @10:01 with 400m recovery, and 30 minutes cool down. Did better than expected!

Illinois Marathon-194 I was excited but also nervous for Wednesday’s run (15 minute warm up, 1.50 miles @10:43, .50 mile @10:01, .50 mile @11:56, 1.5 miles @10:43, .50 mile @10:01, 10 minute cool down). It wasn’t too cold but a little windy. I did stop about 2-3 times for a little to catch my breath and then kept running. Felt great and was pleased with my splits.

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The rest of the week were easy runs (Thursday was 30 minutes, Friday was 35 minutes, Saturday was 70 minutes, and Sunday was 30 minutes).

We finally have some nice and warm weather in Chicago. I began stalking the weather for next weekend in Champaign and am pleased that it will not be cold. 🙂

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Today was a fun run at Fleet Feet Chicago sponsored by Brooks. We had a chance to try out the Levitate. I’ve heard so many great things about it and was excited to run in them. As soon as I put them on, I knew I was going to like them. They felt very soft and cushioned. What I don’t like is the price ($150) which I think is expensive. It is definitely more than I am willing to spend. I know they’ll be reduced sometime this year when the newest version is released and then I can buy a pair for me.

Another GREAT week of training and pleased with all of my runs. Less than one week to go!

Total mileage for the week: 31.05
Total mileage for this training cycle: 463.09
Total mileage for the year: 284.26

How was YOUR week?

15
Apr
2018

Illinois Marathon Training Recap, Week 20

categories: Illinois Marathon, Marathon Training, Running, Weekly Recap

Week #20, April 9-15

M Rest
T 3.72
W 6.36
TH 3.62
F Rest
S Ran 3.32
S Rest

Great day for running but legs felt very tired. I surprised myself and ran a “fast” mile of 11:53. Must remember to run S-L-O-W-E-R now that I am so close to my marathon.

I almost skipped my run on Wednesday because I was tired. I haven’t been sleeping well. I woke up very early on Monday and Tuesday and after work what I really wanted to do was nap. 🙂 It was 60 degrees outside and I know I’ve been complaining a lot about the weather so it was the perfect day to be out, right? I wore shorts and compression socks. Luckily I also wore a long sleeve top because once outside I was COLD. Very weird. It was 52 degrees when I was done.

My workout was interesting (15 minutes warm up, 4×800 @5:20/rep with 400m recovery, 4×400 @2:20/rep with 200m recovery, and 10 minute cooldown. Each interval was done faster than expected and that made me very happy!

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Thursday had pretty decent weather and I couldn’t wait to run in shorts! However, it felt chilly on my run (like on Wednesday) and am glad I wore a long sleeve top.

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The weekend was all about crappy weather. Wind and rain. I went back and forth with debating on doing my long run (40 minutes warm up, 3×10 minutes @10:43 with 400m recovery, 2×5 minutes @10:01 with 400m recovery, and 30 minutes cool down) on Saturday or Sunday. By the time I finally decided to do it on Saturday, I realized that it was going to take me over 2 hours to finish and I wouldn’t be back in time to shower and meet my family for lunch. I told myself that depending on how I felt after lunch and the weather conditions, I might still do my long run on Saturday.

Lunch was fun. We went to a Mexican restaurant. The food was OK but it was great hanging out with the family. After lunch I went home and took a nap. 🙂 I felt much better after my nap I went out for an easy run (40 minutes). It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be and regretted not doing my long run instead. I even managed to finish each mile at the same pace – that has never happened!!

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I wanted to cry Sunday morning. As much as I tried to motivate myself, I just couldn’t do it. I skipped my run. Did I feel guilty? Yes. I sent a message to my coach and she said I could do it on Monday. The problem is that we are expecting snow. So we’ll see if I run on Monday. Sigh, really over this weather. But I guess I shouldn’t really complain since the weather conditions for the Boston Marathon as expected to be worse.

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Total mileage for the week: 17.02
Total mileage for this training cycle: 432.04
Total mileage for the year: 353.21

How was YOUR week? How is the weather where you live?

10
Apr
2018

Spring Training Update!

categories: BibRave Pro, Illinois Marathon, Marathon Training, Running, Tuesdays on the Run

Disclaimer: I am promoting these races as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!

As you’ve been reading along these past few months, I’m training for the Illinois Marathon on April 28th. I began my training on November 27 (just realized it will be 5 months of training). I joined an online coaching group with Mary and Rochelle where they’re coaching a group of women training for the Boston Marathon. We had our last Facebook Live call yesterday in which Mary talked about the course. It was interesting and one day I will be there!

This has been a hard and wonderful training experience. It felt hard because of the weather and some of the runs. I did most of my training outside and there were so many COLD days. I did 4 runs on the treadmill. Surprised I didn’t do more since I don’t mind too much running on it. However, I did tell myself that I would try to do my runs outside and only on the treadmill when I really and absolutely had do. <<Nothing wrong with it but a personal preference.

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My training began with mostly easy runs. Those felt good. Sometimes it was hard to run “slow”. That wasn’t a problem later in the training when the runs got more intense and my body could only run “slow”. Sometimes I even ran slower than the “slow” pace and I was OK with it. I did miss a few runs – I was too tired or didn’t feel like running outside or the treadmill.

I had some awful and great runs. Awful because the pace felt hard or the weather conditions simply didn’t help (this has been a LONG winter). Some great runs because the weather was decent and/or I nailed the required paces. Those were GREAT confidence boosters and just what I needed when I had a run that didn’t go well. All about balance, right? Marathon training isn’t easy. We have our good and bad runs.

My last long run was this Sunday – 3 hours. Ugh, I was cold and tired at the end. I will admit that I had my doubts (again) about how I would complete a marathon when I had no desire to run after 3 hours (and this marathon will take me more than 3 hours).

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So let me tell you about my goals for this marathon. I still have 3 weeks of training and a few more “long” runs. Nothing crazy like 3 hours but yet more like an 1 hour or so.

Illinois Marathon 2018 Goals

After the marathon I will take some time off. I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon (October 28) and I know Mary and Rochelle will have another coaching group training for that marathon. For sure I will be a part of it!

I do have 2 races that I signed up for in May. I am doing the Chicago Spring Half Marathon/10K (I signed up for the 10K) on May 20 and the Soldier Field 10 Mile on May 28. While I would love to PR in those races (it’s been years since I’ve PR in those distances), I have to see how my body recovers and feels after the marathon. It will feel weird not running 5 days a week but I am sure my body will love the time off.

If you’re in the Chicago area and would like to join me, below are two codes you can use.

Byline Bank Chicago Spring Half-1

Use code “BRSoldierField” to score some bonus RAM Racing sunglasses for the Soldier Field 10 Mile.

RAMRacingSunglasses How is YOUR Spring Training coming along? Does it feel like Spring where you live? Not here. We had snow yesterday. 🙁

Linking up with Marcia, Patti, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.

TuesdaysOnTheRun