Week 8 of Chicago Marathon Training is complete

Week 8 of my Chicago Marathon Training is complete.  I had another very busy week, working about 90 hours.  Over the last 3 weeks, I have worked about 100, 90, and 90 hours, respectively.  I have been so busy that I didn't even write a summary for my week 7 training, so I'll include a summary here.  As my friend PN said: "during those crazy work weeks, one should focus on simply maintaining fitness" which is what I tried to do.  I'm very proud that I didn't miss one scheduled workout during those 3 weeks, despite sometimes sleeping less than 5 hours and never sleeping more than 6.5 hours in a single night (most nights I slept 5 hours).  It definitely wasn't easy getting up some mornings (although some mornings I was excited to do something other than work, so that made it easier to get up early).  I know that sleep is absolutely critical for recovery, so I am really going to try and get more sleep over the next few weeks (which isn't easy to do with 2 young kids).

I can definitely feel my fitness improving.  For the most part, I feel very healthy.  I had some chest pain about 2 weeks ago and saw a cardiologist.  I regularly get heart palpitations where my heart adds extra beats.  It is normal in some people, nothing to worry about. I'll write a separate post about my visit to the cardiologist another time. 

Regarding my running health, unfortunately, the cyst that I had behind my left knee has come back, so that has been nagging at me over the last week.  Not much I can do about it.  Since I've had it before, I am used to dealing with the nagging pain.  It comes and goes.

Week 8 Summary (for the week ended 8/8/2010)

• Worked out 5 days, running 4 times (30 miles) and riding once (30 miles).  I haven't gone swimming in weeks, something I am going to need to do with my next triathlon coming up on September 12.
• When I set up my marathon schedule, I hand typed the schedule into my own excel tracking spreadsheet.  This week seemed like a lot of running, with a schedule of 3, 7, 8, and 10 miles.  When I finished the 8 miles on Thursday, I emailed my friend RL (also running the Chicago Marathon) and said "hey, how did your 8 miles go today?"  He responded "the schedule only had 3 miles for today".  "3 miles?..... oops I ran 8 today".  I went back to the schedule and checked the rest of the schedule and realized that I made a bunch of mistakes in it, which I fixed. 
• My right IT band twinged all week.  I continue to roll it out, but due to my busy work schedule, I haven't been able to get any physical therapy, something I am hoping to do next week.
• I have been focusing very hard on making every run very easy to minimize the pounding on my body.  I feel extremely good during these easy runs, as evidenced by my heart rate staying low despite the very hot and humid weather every day this week. 
• My marathon race plan will be to run a very easy first half marathon, focusing on my heart rate, which for me, is directly correlated to how I feel.  My target heart rate for Chicago for the first half marathon will be 149 or less.  We'll see if I can actually force myself to run slow enough to achieve this (usually about 8:55-9:00 per mile).  If I can go out easy, then my plan will be to turn up the speed after 13.1 miles.

Week 8 detail:

Monday - OFF

Tuesday - 4.55 miles, 38:59, 8:34 pace, 155 heart rate

Wednesday - 7 miles, 1:01:54, 8:44 pace, 151 heart rate

Thursday - 8 miles, 8:46 pace, 155 heart rate, 1:10:15

Friday - OFF

Saturday - 10.31 miles, 8:42 pace, 151 heart rate, 1:29:44  - very easy and very hot

Sunday - rode 30.74 miles in Central Park, 18.4 mph, 72 cadence, average heart rate 132


Week 7 Training Summary - 5 workouts, 4 runs (30 miles) and 1 ride (30 miles)

Monday - OFF

Tuesday - 4.5 miles, 8:25 pace, 157 heart rate, 37:57

Wednesday - 6 miles, 8:26 pace, 152 heart rate, 50:45

Thursday - 6 miles, 8:42 pace, 155 heart rate, 52:48

Friday - OFF

Saturday - 30 miles on the bike in Central Park, 19.2 mph (my record, and I averaged 20.0 for the first 12 miles), 141 heart rate, 71 cadence, 1:35:02.  Definitely getting stronger on the bike

Sunday - 13.43 miles, 8:56 pace, 148 heart rate, 2:00:00, half marathon split 1:57:03.  I felt AWESOME this entire run, it was very easy for me, and around mile 11 I was easily running an 8:18 pace.  Ran the ING New York City Marathon training run with my friend DG.  I took a speed class with DG last summer and ran into him at the start line of this practice run.  I said "how fast are you planning on running and how many?"  He said "easy, around 9:00 per mile and 18".  I said "I'm running 13, want to run together?".  And we did, I ran 13.3 miles with him. 



I have attached a picture of me after my week 7 long run (13.3 miles), taken by my mom who was visiting from Wisconsin. Kaiya, my 22 month old daughter, is standing next to me.  I am soaked because it was very hot and humid that day.