Chicago Marathon training week 12

It seems like yesterday that I started training the week of April 28th, now I am already half way through my training schedule and the Chicago Marathon is less than 3 months away.  My week 12 long run was only a 10K, but mother nature gave me a challenge in the form of pouring rain the entire 6.2 miles.  Charlie and Endo approach running in the rain differently than I do, they run through every puddle and river of rain on the road, while I am constantly bobbing and weaving to avoided them.   No matter how hard I try I always end up putting my foot into a deep puddle.

Endo and I running in the rain this morning

Endo napping post run in front of the fan

The second half of the training schedule is when things start getting serious.  For long runs I still have to do 17 miles, 18 miles, and then three 20 mile runs with "shorter" long weekend runs of 13 miles, a half marathon, 14 miles, a 10K, and then my taper runs (12 and 8 miles) before the marathon.  I mentioned several weeks ago that in order for me to do this runs, with the heat and with the dogs, I was going to have to get up really early on Saturdays to make it happen.  For my last three weekend runs (13, 15, and 16 miles) I have been awake by 4:40 am and on the road by 5:10 am.  As much as I hate waking up early, I really like this schedule.  I finish by 8:30, get a snack, nap (if possible), and still have most of my day to do other things.

Last week I tried my first ice bath after my 16 mile run.  I am not sure it qualifies for a full on official ice bath because I didn't have ice cubes floating in the tub when I got in, but the water was cold.  I stayed in for about 10 minutes and I really do think it helped my muscle recovery.  I'll try even more ice after my 17 mile run next weekend and make sure I measure the temperature of the water to see how cold it is.

Me taking an ice bath

The dogs have been holding up pretty well, minus a limping incident with Charlie in week 11.  When he first started limping on Thursday I was worried that he wouldn't be able to run with me on Saturday, which threw me off a bit.  Despite the fact that I don't run with other humans, my dogs are my training partners and not having them to run with would definitely affect my mental game.  Although I do think he did hurt himself initially, his limping is intermittent.  He has done this before and it appears to be an attention seeking behavior (it goes away when he wants to run or wants a treat).

I shaved Endo's belly and some layers of fur to help her stay cool on the runs.  I also pour water on her several times during the run.  She did fine running 12 miles with me last weekend and was even pulling me at mile 10 so she could chase squirrels.  My dogs are the best running partners, they keep me safe and motivated!

Despite committing to the three day a week training program by Hal Higdon, I have been a little bit nervous that I will not get the mileage in that I need to be prepared on race day.  Because of this I decided to do what I do best, make an Excel spreadsheet to do a mileage comparison between the Marathon Novice 2 and the Marathon 3 programs.  Initially I did my miles/week calculation based on the entire ]training program and the Novice 2 program averaged 26.4 miles while the Marathon 3 was 23.9 miles, which worried me a little bit.  I went back and calculated the miles/week for the Marathon 3 programs based only on the last 18 weeks, the same amount of time of the Novice 2 program, and the average was 26.4 miles!  Once I looked at this I decided I would be alright.

When I trained for Disney with the Novice 2 program, I completely stopped biking and climbing (for the most part).  I stopped doing other activities because I was worried it would be too much for my body to handle.  By the end of the training, I was so burned out on running.  With the Marathon 3 program you are encouraged to do cross-training.  Because I am more confident this time around and I am not running three days straight during the week, I am embracing the cross-training.  I am still biking to work 2-3 days a week and trying to get to the climbing gym 2 or so days a week, depending on how my body feels.  I have also kept up with doing my physical therapy 4-6 times a week and I have not had any issues with my IT band (knock on wood).

One side effect of the increased exercise is my appetite.  I am not really known for eating a lot, but I was pretty ravenous when I trained for the Disney Marathon and it is no different this time around.  My increased demand for food kicked in around week 9 and now I am making sure I have plenty of food and treats to eat, especially at work.  My latest obsession is Brookside dark chocolate covered pomegranates.  So yummy!  Hopefully I don't split the seat of my pants at the climbing gym like last time.  In addition to being hungry all the time I need more sleep.  Nick was joking around the other night at 7:45 pm that it was almost my bedtime, and he wasn't entirely wrong.  I have gone to bed before 9 pm while it is still light out and I'm not ashamed!

A reminder why I am doing all of this work:  to help the puppies in memory of my great rescue dog Sierra!

This is just one, well two examples, of the great work the Paws Chicago does.  If you would like to help Paws you can do so at my Team Paws fundraising page which can be found here.