Chicago Race Prep – Cycle #2: Week 3 & 4

63 Miles

6 Workouts

3 Quality Sessions

72 Miles

7 Workouts

2 Quality Sessions

Overall I am happy with where I am at in training thus far. The end of week 4 was kind of hectic but I was able to get things in.

To begin week 3 I tried a new workout , at least for me, the K (1,000 M or .62 miles) repeat. I am very familiar with the mile repeat but running a K repeat was kind of new to me. It was done at a pace faster then the mile…probably something similar to an 800 repeat.  I ended up with seven of them for the session. It was a heck of a workout and definitely something I would do again in training.

The rest of week 3 was pretty standard except for the long run on the weekend.  Lindsey had her 70.3 race Saturday and I was in charge of Marshall on Sunday, which was the slotted date for the week’s long run. I ended up switching Saturday and Sunday as doing the long run on Saturday while in Muncie for the race as that was going to a lot easier then trying to figure out 16 with Marshall. I could bang out 8 miles on the treadmill with him napping the next day no problem…but 16 would be tough.

I ended up doing the 16 when Lindsey was on the bike portion of the race. It was nice actually as I was able to run on closed roads and got to see her multiple times out on the bike course. I definitely got some funny looks from some bikers as I was running down the highway shirtless banging out 6:40s…they were like what the heck is this guy doing?!?!?! Finished up  the run and was able to hop on one of Greg’s bikes and see Lindsey multiple times while she was finishing her race.

Week 4 brought some craziness for the end of the week. 

Monday ran, Tuesday ran, Wednesday ran. Nothing to report. I did nail my progression tempo run on Wednesday.

Thursday. Pearl Jam was playing Wrigley Field on Friday and I didn’t have tickets. I put in for tickets through the 10Club but didn’t score any…which was not surprising considering Pearl Jam fans are crazy and this show was one of the highest demand tickets  EVER!!! As it got closer to the show, I was  really trying to find a ticket…I couldn’t just help myself. I had the opportunity to purchase tickets through the Cubs Season Tickets Holders Pre-Sale but for whatever reason I decided to pass…I’m not sure what I was thinking. So I was left scrambling for a ticket week of. Long story short through the power of twitter I randomly found a girl in Northwest Indiana selling her ticket for face value (unheard for this show…people were getting $400-$500 per ticket) at about 11PM Thursday night. Looks like I’m going to the show tomorrow! Hello. I’ll figure out my runs later. Pearl Jam wins.

Get up Friday, do my run, fake it at work for a couple of hours and then head up to Chicago. Pick up my ticket. Get to Wrigley. Meet up with some friends. Showtime! If you don’t know Pearl Jam they are known for fan loyalty and for putting on legendary and lengthy shows so combine that with playing at Wrigley Field it was going to be a great night.

About six songs in…they make an announcement that they are playing one more song and then taking a break as some severe weather is getting ready to hit the area. Annoying. Whatever. No big deal. Band and staff thought it would be about 30-45 minutes later. 3 hours later! Still not playing as more weather came through. The band ends up coming back on stage at about 11:50 and plays until 2:00 AM when they were told they finally have to stop! It was great. Hard to beat this band.

Back to my running though…so I was scheduled to do 18 miles on Saturday and I just didn’t see that happening. I got up in Chicago and decided to do 11 miles along the Lakefront. That was terrible. It was probably the 3-4 hours of sleep but whatever. Over it. I needed to get back to Indy. I had Beerfest to attend with some friends.

I got back to Indy around 2:30, take a shower, and head out the door again for some Beerfest action. Well Beerfest is Beerfest. Great time but come 9:00 PM I am ready exhausted.

Sunday called for that 18 I switched out on Saturday. I didn’t have it in to run 18 on the road so I decided to head over to Eagle Creek West and run trails for 2 hours. It was a nice change of pace and it was great prep for my trail half race coming up in two weeks. I’d like to try and win so we will see what happens.

Overall, the end of week 4 was pretty nutty but I was able to get the miles in with some flexibility. I think that is key to marathon training success. You have to be persistence and diligent in your training but you also have to be flexible when things come up….like Pearl Jam concerts. Don’t be so obsessive that you keep yourself from doing things you really want to do once in a while. 

Also thanks to Lindsey for my Christmas in July weekend!