Chicago Marathon Training - Week 7

The most exciting thing that comes with the conclusion of this week of training? STEP BACK WEEK! Every third week I have planned to drop down the mileage of the long run. 14 last week, 18 this week which brings us to 10-12 this weekend. Woo to the hoo! 10-12 seems like nothing after running for 3+ hours this past weekend.  

But with dropping back the mileage my plan is to also run the long run as a progression run. Soooo no 11 minute miles should be happening during this coming one. Wah. Training is tough. And voluntary ;)

I'm pretty happy with how this week came out. One thing I will note is my legs were DEAD by the end. I took an early rest day Thursday and Friday they still did not seem refreshed. Then the November Project workout somehow killed them. 

Saturday I woke up for the NYRR Long Training Run and my body just told me no. I felt beat up and kind of ill so decided to hold off a day. For the best since I wound up adding 2 to my planned 16 and hit 18 miles! (okay so MAYBE I also didn't calculate where I would wind up ending at 16 and the more logical decision was to run another 2 to get closer to home and finish but whatever...)

I should also note that I keep planning to run long on Saturday and keep doing it on Sunday lol - it is nice to have that extra day to cushion myself if needed.

Monday - 5 miles @ 10:21 - Recovery run 

Tuesday - Exhale Power Yoga + 75 minutes on the Arc trainer (yay for cross training?) so many planks during this session! I woke up sore for sure. 

Wednesday - 2.3 miles @ 8:41 + 5 miles @ 10:22 (double day) plus upper body strength circuit - those morning miles would prove to be my only speedy ones all week.

Thursday - DAY OF REST - I had planned a tempo run but I knew my legs did not have it in them and decided not worth the junk miles since I wanted to hit up NP Friday.

Friday -  November Project + 3 miles @ 10:00 - this workout was everything you want it to be and then some. I am trying to make more of these and plan my weeks around them. SO FUN. 

(stolen from November Projects instagram :) Indian Run Planks. Get involved.

Saturday - 3.5 miles @ 10:17 - delayed long run so just easy since my legs were tight

Sunday - 18 miles @ 10:43 - went slow then went even slower - this was a doozy but I just kept telling myself to keep on moving. 

Total miles: 36.8

Goals for this week = a quality speed session. Hoping for a nice tempo run mid week.