With last week’s cross country 5k out of the way, I’m now fully focused on the upcoming Chicago Marathon.
I sketched out my plan here, but this week is the first week that I’ll be attempting a real, solid long run. Since I ran Jersey City in the spring, I’ve just been doing simple 16 mile long runs, without any workouts mixed in.
I’m also dealing with some work travel this week. I went down to Atlantic City on Friday night for a conference, and I’ll be there until Wednesday morning. So for the first half of this week, I’m going to be working around my conference schedule.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way – and traveling (and working) doesn’t mean you have to skimp out on your runs.
The Weekly Plan
Here’s the breakdown of the week:
- Sunday: 8 miles easy
- Monday: 18 mile long run, 2 x 6 miles @ MP
- Tuesday: 8 miles easy
- Wednesday: 6 miles easy (AM), 8 mile track workout (PM)
- Thursday: 5 miles easy
- Friday: 16 mile long run
- Saturday: 6 miles easy
And here’s how things went.
Sunday’s Easy Run Along the Boardwalk
I woke up Sunday, and I was dragging. We went out to a concert Saturday night, and we didn’t get back up to the room and get to sleep until around 1AM.
So that 6:30 alarm came quick …
But knowing that this would be the case, I planned ahead. I had to be down at the conference by 8:30 or 8:45, so I wasn’t going to have time for my usual long run, anyway. So I shifted the long run to Monday and planned an easy 8 miles for Sunday morning.
The weather would get warmer later in the week, but it was still pretty nice on Sunday. Mid-60’s, decent humidity, and the sun just coming up. When you run along the ocean, there’s usually a nice breeze, too.
We were staying at Harrah’s up by the marina. I’ve learned in the past that you can jog through the city down to the boardwalk in about 2 miles. From there, you can head up the boardwalk whatever distance you want before turning around.
I stepped out of the casino, and those first few steps were a slooow shuffle. The first mile was 10:48. But over the next few miles, I loosened up, and the splits went down to 9:45, 9:15, and 8:46.
I hit four miles – my turn around point – just past Tropicana. By this time, I felt pretty good. I headed back the way I’d come, and those last four miles were between 8:10 and 8:30.
After I got back to the hotel, I took a quick shower, went down for breakfast, and went about my day. I found time for a nap in the late afternoon, and after dinner I was in bed early to get some rest before the next day.
Monday’s Long Run at Marathon Pace
The schedule for Monday worked out such that I didn’t have any responsibilities until later in the morning – around 10:30. That gave me enough time to get some sleep, go for my 18 mile long run, and get ready for the day.
I rolled out of bed around 6 or 6:15, sipped on a cup of coffee while I woke up, and then hit the road around 7:15. The weather was starting to turn – it was still in the low 70’s with a dew point in the 60’s – so I was a little worried about the tempo effort. But I filled up my water flask, loaded up on some gels, and hoped for the best.
The first three miles I jogged down to the boardwalk for a warm up. I felt much better than I had the day before, and I loosened up pretty quickly. Towards the end of my warm up, I took my first gel, sipped on some water, and then launched into the first set of marathon pace miles.
It’s still early in the training cycle – and the weather is less than ideal – so I didn’t want to press things too hard. I started out running based on effort, with a loose goal to run between 7:00 and 7:30.
I was pleased when the first mile clicked off in 7:29 and things felt very under control. I kept the effort even the next three miles – all 7:25 to 7:30 – and took my second gel four miles in.
At this point, the boardwalk came to an end and I had to divert to Atlantic Ave for the last couple miles. Without noticing, I picked up the pace a little towards the end – 7:18 and 7:17 for those last two miles.
This brought me to the halfway point, and I slowed to an easy jog for the next mile. I passed by a park with some tennis courts and a water fountain, and I took the opportunity to fill up my water flask. The sun was out, and it was a little warmer than I had expected, but the weather wasn’t terrible.
After the recovery mile, I started the next set of six miles. Since I was on the way home, I allowed myself to push the pace a little bit. The first mile was 7:21, after which I took my third gel. I slowed down a little in the next mile (7:29) while I turned back on to the boardwalk.
But I picked it up from there. The next two miles, I intentionally pushed the pace down – 7:10 and 7:13. At this point, I was tired for sure, but I still had some gas in the tank.
I hit the pedal a little harder in the next mile – 7:05. I took my fourth (and final) gel, and tried to push down below 7:00 for the final mile. But I hit the split in 7:04.
I jogged the final two miles to the hotel. It took me a few hundred meters to get my legs back under me, but I wasn’t totally wiped out. The final mile was 8:47.
All told, I was very pleased with this effort. Sure, it would have been nice to get under 7:00 for a couple miles. But it’s still early, and the weather was definitely not my friend today. I’d rather err on the side of caution and come in a little slower than crash and burn.
My legs held up fine for the full 18 miles, and the tempo didn’t destroy me. I felt a lot better than the previous week’s long run, and I think the fueling has a lot to do with that. From here on out, it’s definitely time to take gels on my long runs.
Tuesday’s Easy Run
After running 18 miles the previous day and walking around the conference center, I was prepared to feel a bit sore.
We also went out to a steakhouse for dinner the night before, and I managed to conquer the 34 ounce ribeye. My long run had left a serious hole in my stomach, and I took no prisoners trying to fill it back up.
I was surprised that I actually felt pretty good once I started running.
The first mile was predictably slow – but a little better than Sunday. The next couple miles, I loosened up and eased into the pace.
It was an easy recovery day, so I wasn’t paying attention to the pace. But after I hit the turn around point, I my pace dropped down to ~8:00/mi. It didn’t feel like it, but I was moving at a pretty good clip.
The last four miles were all 7:50 to 8:05. That’d be a decent pace for a regular easy day – and I was surprised to hit that on the day after my long run.
Wednesday’s Track Workout
Wednesday morning, I woke up and ran an easy six miles along the boardwalk. Uneventful – other than being a little faster than the day before.
With another good night’s sleep – and an extra day removed from the long run effort – I was feeling great. I finished up the conference, ate a nice big breakfast, and hit the road for home.
It’s a 2 hour drive, and I was exhausted when I finally made it home. I climbed into bed and took a nice long nap. There’s nothing quite like that first post-conference nap – when the go, go, go finally comes to a full stop.
I woke up around 4:30. Once I emerged from the post-nap cloud, I was well rested. I snacked on something and left for the track workout just before six. When I got there, I jogged a few laps and warmed up.
The workout was a kind of broken up interval workout. Each set was a 600m rep at around 5k pace, a brief (2 minute) jogging recovery, a 400m rep at a slightly faster pace, and a longer (3 minute) jogging recovery before starting the next set.
I hadn’t programmed this into my watch, but it was a good chance to try out the basic interval workout feature on my Garmin. Essentially, this lets you track alternating reps and recoveries by pressing the lap button. And when the data is loaded into Garmin Connect, you can easily see filter down to just the workout reps.
For the first set, I was still fresh and I ripped it a little too fast. Around 5:40/mi for the 600m and 5:20/mi for the 400m.
I got out of sync with my training partner on the next set, and I ended up running most of the workout alone. The next two sets went well. The pace seemed a little fast, but it was still comfortable – around 5:30-5:40/mi.
By the fourth set, I was starting to feel it. I’d start the rep fast, and by the end I’d be begging for it to end. The pace was a little slower – 5:40 – 5:50/mi – but not too bad.
I soaked up that final 3 minute recovery and I braced myself for the final set. The 600m was slow – 5:55/mi. But I took the two minutes to catch my breath, and I pushed it for the final 400m. Two of my teammates had started this rep a few seconds ahead of me, and I caught up to them in the home straight – getting back down to a pace of 5:35/mi.
After a mile cooldown, I was done. We sat around and chatted for a bit, then I went home to relax.
It was a great workout. These are the kinds of paces I hit in the spring when I was doing R-paced workouts – so it’s a sign of progress that I was able to keep things going with longer reps with shorter recoveries.
Breaking the 1000m repeats into 600m / 400m with a short recovery was also a great way to adapt to the heat. It was in the 70’s with almost 100% humidity. The longer reps probably would have been too much.
Friday – A Midweek Long Run Inside
On Friday, my plan called for a 16 mile midweek long run.
Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating. It was in the mid 70’s overnight, increasing to the 90’s in the afternoon. The humidity was high – and going out for 16 miles didn’t seem appealing.
So it was time – again – to hit the treadmill. I fired up a movie I found on Netflix (the Jack Reacher movie starring Tom Cruise) and started jogging.
Keeping with my routine, I made sure to have some water and I took a few (3?) gels. I also set up the box fan, and that kept me cooled off.
I took the first 45 minutes to ease into the pace, and by then I was easily chugging along around 8:30/mi. From there, I increased the pace slightly every 20 to 30 minutes. By the end, I was cruising at slightly below 8:00/mi.
The treadmill isn’t well calibrated, so I’m not entirely confident about the pace. But it was a solid run – and it was definitely better than I would have accomplished outside.
Saturday’s “Easy” Run
Saturday morning, I met up with some of the guys from my running club for an easy run and some strength training.
“Easy” is a relative term. It was hot and humid, and they pressed the pace a little faster than I likely would have done otherwise.
It was still easy-ish – but it was probably a bit harder than I would have run if I was by myself.
Afterwards, we did a circuit of strength training and core exercises – various squats, upper body stuff, and planks. I’ve been admittedly lazy lately when it comes to this kind of stuff, so it was good to do some strength training.
Reflections and Looking Ahead
At this point, I’m two weeks into my twelve weeks of training for Chicago – and I’m feeling good.
My long run on Monday was solid. The tempo pace was a little slow, but it was better than I had expected. And the workout on Wednesday was way faster than I otherwise would have thought possible.
I feel like I’m getting a lot stronger and faster – and I’m just waiting for summer to end. My pace on easy days, as well as shorter workouts, is improving quite a bit. When the weather breaks, I think it’ll be a whole new world.
Luckily, the weather looks like it’s going to improve in the next week or two. There are a couple hot days left in August, and then the daily highs are going to drop back down to the 80’s. Which should mean overnight lows in the 60’s and decent summer running weather.
Regardless, I’ll just keep putting in the work – and eventually it’ll pay off.