Chicago Marathon Training: Trusting a new process & Eating for success.
I cannot believe that we are already headed into Week 3 of my Chicago Marathon Training Plan. We have another sixteen weeks to go before towing the start line at Grant Park on Sunday October 10th and I am giddy with excitement!
(Here are my confessions: I am a week late with my blog post because last Sunday was so incredibly hectic with my son’s end of year exams and getting ready for the start of the new Toastmasters year for me.)
So today is the official start of my eighteen week blog series with my followers and subscribers as I take you on my personal journey of working towards my goal of running my personal best in the marathon distance this fall. I will be perfectly honest with you guys: I am so nervous to be doing this! This is not the first marathon that I am training for, but it is the first time that I am documenting what it is actually like to train for this distance while having a third party be so involved in my process.
Let me start off by giving just a little background. If you have been following my personal Instagram page @linda_runs_naturally , you definitely have seen how I have been on a fitness journey like no other over the past 4 weeks: customized meal plans and personal training on top of the run schedule I already have in place. At the end of the 30 days, I had dropped 15 pounds and shed almost 5 inches from my waist. I was ready to go.
I got hit with a curve ball: No energy gels during this training cycle. I was told quite matter-of -factly that I didn’t need it and that I would be shown a better way to gather and expend energy during the next eighteen weeks. This was not welcomed news for me as I have been training with energy gels for over four years and have convinced myself that I cannot prepare for runs in excess of ten miles without them.
Runners love routine. We love knowing what works and we ride that until the wheels fall off. So I began this training cycle with the unknown. I followed my meal outline to the letter and packed my energy gels away, opting to give them away to my group members. My recovery and speed runs for the first week were outstanding and I even managed to sneak in an additional track workout with my run group. My long run pace was respectably in the 11s which was well within the pace guide set by Nike. I reviewed my Week One statistics and thought: “Not bad.”
Week One: Seven runs: 11.1 miles. 10’45” average pace.
It reminded me of a line I heard in a movie: “First we try. Then we trust.” I wasn’t fully on the side of trust, but I definitely gave my effort.
Week Two the mileage slightly increased and I completed some different speed workouts. I dropped another two pounds and had actually hit my goal weight. My strength training workout was strugglish, but I was determined to stay positive. I also took the time to research the meals that I was getting on my plan and how they impacted my training schedule. I said to myself “Well it appears my nutritionist may know a thing or two.” I strung together a week of outstanding running. My Saturday long run was brutally humid and mentally I struggled for the first half of my run because my phone data would not allow me to successfully download my audio guided run. It is amazing how we let some insignificant details throw us off kilter. After mile 4, I got angry with myself (read: focused) and pounded the final two miles at an 8’54” pace. Saturday’s average pace was an even more respectable (and proud for me) 10’50” average.
Week Two: Fives runs: 13.1 miles. 10’25” average pace.
The meals that I was getting and when I was getting them were important.
First we try. Then we trust.
So what are the takeaways after two weeks of training?
- Sometimes you need another person to show you the things that frankly, you do not know.
2. You can overcome a bad start to a training run.
Are you marathon training or training to run a new distance? Drop some of your takeaways in the comment section.
Linda