Week 16 - Chicago Marathon Training

I'm back from Delaware and I think I can really say I'm too old for music festivals... until the next one my girls and I decide to plan, I guess ;) We had such a blast! It rained the first night we were there, but then it was hot, hot, hot. I'd like to say that my plan of running while on this trip went well, but it definitely did not. I didn't run for 5 days! All of the drinking, dehydration, and heat left me not wanting to run. I'm pretty disappointed in myself, but I had so much fun and I have to be okay with it. I'm glad it was super early in the training cycle and not in the middle or closer to my race. Below is what I should've done, and what I actually did (insert embarrassed emoji face here).

Week 17 Scheduled

Week 17 Actual

Now, I have to somehow get in 56 miles this week, when I did 25 last week. It might be a recipe for disaster (and injury), but I'm grateful I had a few days for my legs to recover from a kick ass half marathon and a 10K race in back to back weekends. 

I'm starting physical therapy this week as well. I've avoided it primarily because physical therapy is associated with injury. While I'm not injured, my body is in pain and I need help so I can keep doing this running thing. I'm hopeful it will keep me healthy and help me recover quickly from the long tough runs I have ahead. 

Nutritionally, I'm bloated and my belly is so mad at me. I ate festival food for 4 days + we spent Monday in Philadelphia eating fresh baked cookies from Reading Terminal Market and finding the best cheese steak (as recommended by our taxi driver - it's from Jim's Steaks). I need a detox. I came in late last night with no time to meal prep so I'm stuck with whatever I can make with just an avocado and a cucumber (which was all that was left in my fridge when I came home) until I can make it to the grocery store this weekend.

Below is this week's schedule. The weather is warming up A LOT and I'm not looking forward to struggling with my paces on my speed workouts because of the heat. I'm hoping this will make me faster for a cooler fall race (or prepared for a hot one). I'm planning on doing trails on Sunday, so there's no pace or hard distance assigned.

The 17 mile long run is going to be tough since the furthest I've gone the last few weeks is 13. If I'm not feeling it, I think I'll move it down to 15 and make sure I do extra trail miles on Sunday. Here's to hoping this week goes better than last - I'm already off to a good start with tonight's 8 mile run done AND I felt great during it! I guess 5 days of rest wasn't that bad...?

J