Week one of training for the Chicago marathon is in the books and I am now on my journey to 26.2 in October.

Monday

After a weekend of back to back runs and piyo, my legs and feet were dead. I did 2 miles on the elliptical and opted for a good stretch for 10-15 minutes afterwards.

Tuesday

This was my first ever speed workout and I have to say, I really enjoyed it.

1 mile warm up (10:00 pace)
400m (8:15-8:30 pace)
90 second recovery
Repeat 8 times
1 mile cool down (10:00 pace)

I hit my target paces for each 400m (ranging from 8:03-8:29) and walked between each 400m. My cool down ended up being 1.5 miles and my total miles for Tuesday were 5.25.

Wednesday

I did 30 minutes on the spin bike for my cross training workout.

Thursday

My workout was five miles at marathon pace, though I’m not exactly sure what my marathon pace will be. I did all five miles at a pretty consistent pace:
10:03, 9:49, 10:13, 10:12, 10:02.

Friday

Rest day!

Saturday

We headed down to Sarasota for the weekend, so my first long run of marathon training was a solo run. I figured this would be my first mental hurdle and it was. It was a rough run altogether, but I finished. Thankfully, I had a new podcast to listen to to keep me distracted for some of the run.

Sunday

From what I have heard and read, recovery runs are just as important as the long runs since it’s all about running on tired legs. My first recovery run was 4 miles. I didn’t start until 7:45am so the sun was scorching and it was incredibly hot, but overall, my legs felt pretty good.

One down, 15 more to go!