I’ve had a lot of excuses for not running lately. That ends now. The week’s theme of marathon training is Building a Base.
Week 4 Marathon Training
Monday: 4-mile run. I ran the first 3 miles slowly and the last one at a faster pace. My average pace was 9:17/mile. My heart monitor says my average heart rate was 172 bpm and my maximum was 191. I’m surprised I could even go this hard after carrying a 60-pound backpack this weekend during the hike into Aravaipa Canyon. My hips and back still felt sore.
Tuesday: Yoga and 1.5-mile run at Dreamy Draw Recreation Area. Graham sent me a text while I was at work asking me to meet him at the mountain for sunset. We knew it’d be a gorgeous evening because of the nice puffy clouds in the sky after the rained stopped. I raced through post-workday traffic, changed in about 30 seconds in the car, and ran to our usual sunset viewing place. I didn’t even have time to put my hair in a ponytail! Graham followed me on his bike as I ran, shooting video on his GoPro and taking my Ragnar Training challenge photos.
Wednesday: 5.04-mile run. My pace was 9:18/mile, with an average heart rate of 173 bpm. (Max was 191.) It was an evening run, and I had the running trail to myself. I tested out the new headlamp Graham got us; at it’s max brightness it could blind you, probably. (I dimmed it a little and pointed it downward so that wouldn’t happen.) According to my Garmin I burned 540 calories, so I felt less guilty about having a glass of wine with dinner.
Thursday: Yin Yoga at Sutra Midtown. Steven, who was one of my instructors during yoga teacher training, warns you before class that you should be careful driving home afterward. You will feel that zen! Class begins with a flow, by which Steven means you breathe back and forth from a runner’s lunge into straightening that leg. We did one downward-facing dog for an extended amount of time. I remember thinking that it was the hardest down dog I’ve ever done. (We later did two other downward-facing dogs between sides of pigeon.) I didn’t meet my goal steps for the day for the third time since I’ve had the Garmin, but I’m OK with it.
Friday: 3.25 miles. I don’t remember much from this run other than it was around sunset, and I went without a headlamp. I meant to run 4 miles but I didn’t want it to get too dark on me.
Saturday: 2.48 miles. I had planned to run longer, but I’m glad I didn’t, because I ended up having to deal with family drama immediately afterward. This daytime run reaffirmed my love of nighttime runs; it was quite warm!
Sunday: 9.87 mile run. My longest run yet of training. I noticed that the timer on my Garmin wasn’t changing at about Mile 8, so I’m not going to trust my time on this one. It’s as if it only moves if you’re constantly moving your arm back and forth. I’m going to test it next time by also using the Map My Run app. I had more than 20,000 steps on this day!
Weekly goal: 27 miles
Actual mileage: 26.14 miles.
Are you currently marathon training?
Related posts:
Fall Chicago Half Marathon 2019 Recap
CHICAGO HALF MARATHON 2018
CHICAGO HALF MARATHON 2016 RECAP
CHICAGO MARATHON 2016 RECAP
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Marette Flora is the founder of Floradise blog and personalized gift shop. Marette is a passionate storyteller and creator. She attended the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication.
She is passionate about creating helpful and meaningful things.