This week began my first official training week for the Chicago Marathon! It is going to be a long, difficult, scary journey, but at the end will reap major rewards.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly”
My first week of official Chicago Marathon training looked like:
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rev Run 5 Miler
Monday: 2.5 Mile Run (Dropped my car off at the mechanic with no ride back)
Tuesday: 4 Mile Run
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 4 Mile Run
Friday: 30 Minute Weight Lifting
Overall a very good week. I did more running than my training plan called for. The plan has me running a max of 6 miles the first week and I ran 10.5. Ultimately it is assuming I am starting from scratch, however I have already run 3 official races so far this year and am near the end of a Half Marathon training plan, so I modified the first official week for more miles.
On Sunday I had the Rev Run 5 Miler and did a lot better than expected. The run was full of hills that I was certain would present issues. However I pushed through them and was only 2.5 minutes off of my 5 Mile PR time. So needless to say I was happy. I ran the run with one of my co-workers and she was able to get a picture of me finishing:
Finishing the race
I am looking forward to next week. I am going to start focusing more on weight loss at that point. I have always said if I am going to run a full marathon I would like to drop some weight. So starting next week I am going to focus on nutrition just as much as running. I always try and eat right for the most part, but now I will begin tracking calories on a daily basis. Overall a great first week headed towards the Chicago Marathon. Only 24 more to go!
Running for the Average Joe 