Chicago Marathon Training Week 10 Review & Beer Mile!

5 Runs
53.5 Miles
19 Mile Long Run

Another week of training in the books, another bench mark for longest run and highest weekly millage.  I think my training took another solid, injury free step forward this week.  The key workouts for the week were a 6 mile steady state run on Wednesday, a 10 mile marathon pace run on Friday and a 19 miler on Saturday.

The steady state run on Wednesday played out just the way it should, with all six miles coming in under 6:32 and the last 3 being faster than the first 3 (6:30, 6:30, 6:32, 6:25, 6:28, 6:25).  The right knee did start bugging me at one point during the run and after the run it bothered me most of the day, but seemed to get better during the rest of the week.  I'm still really struggling with consistent pacing, but getting through this workout without too much straining is probably a good sign.

Friday's run was again pretty solid as I averaged 6:42 for 10 miles (goal 6:44).  Pacing was again a problem, and the pacing is being helped a little by quick stops for water where the clock stops, but I'll still take it.  Stomach is still acting up occasionally as it did in the middle of this run - I need to get my eating situation figured out so I can figure out what I'm going to need to eat before the Marathon for an issue free race...

Saturday's long run turned out pretty good, all be it purposefully slow in the warm temperatures.  The temperatures cracked 85 before the end of the run despite getting out the door at 5:40.  A pop-tart and chea fresca before the run and a gu at mile 12 is all I used to get through 19, though I was dragging a bit at mile 12 - probably mostly due to the 5 mile stretch without water.  However the gu and a short stop for a gut full of water kicked  in a couple miles later as I was able to finish the run in relatively strong fashion with the last 5 miles being under 7:20 and the last being a 7:05.  A confidence builder considering how easy I was still working at that point.

Saturday afternoon, when I thought my running week (or at least day) was over I was (maybe somewhat) reluctantly talked into running a beer mile with the HHH.  Oliver and Chris wanted to go run it so Veronica agreed to be the DD for them and I decided to tag along at the last minute to check it out, not really expecting much on tired legs.  Lucky I didn't expect much because I didn't get much - a 7:24 (which was good for tied for second).  I had some serious doubts the first 2 laps as I fell way behind on the drinking.  I was a full half lap behind an older (slightly bigger) gentlemen by the time I had finished my first beer and despite catching up during the lap fell almost as far behind on my second beer.  The third and fourth beers surprisingly went down easier and I had more than a comfortable lead by the end of the mile, though I was beaten by someone in a later heat.  Probably not the recovery I needed, but the beer mile followed by a delicious bbq was a fun way to end the day!

A good week overall - starting to look forward to running in cooler temperatures though!!