Pre-Marathon Update Weeks 6-13

Definitely slacking off on getting my updates done on my training for the Chicago Marathon. Sorry. No good reason. I was planning on doing this once a month but lo and behold this is 2 months worth. I have a 10k coming up on Memorial Day. The BolderBoulder is putting on a satellite race here. The folks that run this are awesome, I had a problem with my registration and I emailed them and they took care of it right away. We actually registered on their main site so we'll get an official time and everything. Hopefully the folks here will do a better job organizing this then the Army 10 Miler. At a minimum I'm voting that everyone actually runs a 10k. I need to break 50 minutes (8 min/mile) so I can get a seeded runner's pass for the Omaha Corporate Cup. I usually run this every year as part of Team ConAgra, in fact the OCC is what got me into running longer distances. Usually about 10,000 people run it, and if you can prove you can run it in less then 50 minutes (for males) you get to start from the front. They don't have chip timing so when you don't start in the front it adds a good 2-5 minutes to your time, making it all but impossible to get under 50 minutes for me. I'm pretty confident that I can break the 50 minute mark finally, and my stretch goal is to run 7:45 minute miles for a time of 48:00. The 48 minute time will give me some confidence that my 4:00 goal for Chicago is doable.

I'll say one thing after 6 months or so of thinking about doing the marathon, this training is no joke. I knew that it wouldn't be easy, but what I wasn't expecting was the pressure each week to get my runs in. The schedule is so focused that if you miss even one day it messes you up and it is hard to make it up. For instance if I miss a Sunday long run there is no chance to catch up so to speak and that day is gone. So, it has been quite a challenge. The extra months to train for Chicago instead of Lincoln have definitely helped me get ready. Right now I'm trying to decide which plan I'm going to use. The original Higdon plan I was going to do peaks at 43 mpw, which doesn't feel like much of a challenge now. I'm either going to do the Higdon Intermediate II plan which gets up to 50 mpw or the Pfitzinger 55 mpw plan. The Pfitz plan has some speedwork built in, so it will be more of a challenge but also will better prepare me. I am thinking right now that I will start with that and if turns out to be too much I'll go back to Hal's easier plan.
Well, without further ado, here is what I've been up to:

Week 6 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 4 / 0
Wednesday - 6 / 5 @ 8.44
Thursday - 4 / 6 @ 8:16
Friday - off / 4 @ 8:41
Saturday - 6 / 6.25 @ 8:48
Sunday - 9 / 9.5 @ 9:04
Total - 29 / 30.5. Tuesday I was busy playing Gran Turismo 4 (which SSG Johnson got me for my birthday, thanks Brad!) so I moved everything back a day. Other then that was a good week.

Week 7 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5 / 5 @ 9:03
Wednesday - 7 / 7 @ 8.30
Thursday - 5 / 5 @ 8:48
Friday - off
Saturday - 7 / 7 @ 8:19
Sunday - 10 / 10 @ 9:36
Total - 34 / 34. Right on schedule for Week 7, nothing exciting to report.

Week 8 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5 / 5 @ 8:57
Wednesday - 7 / 7 @ 8.36
Thursday - 5 / 5 @ 8:49
Friday - off
Saturday - 7 / 7 @ 8:36
Sunday - 12 / 12 @ 9:36
Total - 36 / 36. This was the beginning of the week I was in Qatar. I brought my running shoes, and actually ran both Saturday and Sunday. They had a great trail that ran along the perimeter of the base (no snipers in Qatar!) that was really nice, so it was an enjoyable place to run and see some new scenery. It was really just a different view of the desert but what can you do.

Week 9 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 4 /
Wednesday - 7 / 6.25 @ 8.47
Thursday - 4 /
Friday - off / 3 @ 8:17
Saturday - 7 / 5.33 @ 9:02
Sunday - 9 / 0
Total - 31 / 14.58. Not a good week here. Tuesday I was still in Qatar and didn't get a chance to run. Wednesday I did, but Thursday I was traveling and that kind of put the rest of the schedule off. I still would have had a decent week but on Sunday they had the force protection ratcheted up and we couldn't be outside unless we had our Kevlar and IBA on, and there was no way I was running in that. I contemplated doing the dreadmill but just couldn't go through with it. So, this was somewhat of a rest week for me.

Week 10 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5 / 5 @ 8:01
Wednesday - 7 / 7 @ 8.45
Thursday - 5 / 5 @ 8:41
Friday - off
Saturday - 7 / 7 @ 9:35
Sunday - 12 / 0
Total - 36 / 24. Missed the long run again. Hammer talked me and Princess into starting to lift legs again. I had quit lifting my legs a while back because of all the running I was doing. We did squats on Friday, and Saturday my legs were incredibly sore. I thought it would help if I ran Saturday to loosen things up so I suffered through the 7 miles. Sunday I could barely walk, and there was no way I was running 1.2 miles, let alone 12. We like to say in the Army that there is Hooah (going above and beyond and being a tough guy) and Hooah Stupid (going above and beyond and hurting yourself). Running Saturday was Hooah Stupid as it put me out of commission for about 4 days.

Week 11 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5 / 3.25 @ 9:04
Wednesday - 7 / 3.25 @ 8.49
Thursday - 5 / 5 @ 8:48
Friday - off
Saturday - 7 / 5.5 @ 8:34
Sunday - 10 / 8 @ 9:42
Total - 34 / 25. Early in the week I was still struggling with the soreness in my legs. I suffered through a few shorter runs. At the same time, it started getting up close to a 100 in the afternoons this week. Sunday I was planning on doing the full 10 miles but I felt like I had just eaten a whole bag of cotton balls so I cut it off early (see Hooah vs Hooah Stupid above).

Week 12 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5 / 5 @ 7:48
Wednesday - 7 / 7 @ 9:09
Thursday - 5 / 5 @ 8:58
Friday - off
Saturday - 7 / 7 @ 9:09
Sunday - 10 / 6 @ 9:18
Total - 34 / 30. Back to normal for the most part. I suffered through the afternoon heat for all of the runs but Sunday. Sunday I waited until later in the night when it cooled down as it was like 103 that day. I didn't end up going until 1030 at night so it was a little bit late to do the whole 10 miles. Plus I have a phobia about getting abducted by a group of insurgents. It is really dark here at night (no street lights to mitigate the mortars) so it is a little bit weird out. My fear isn't that I'll be tortured and killed, but that they will videotape the kidnapping and everyone will snicker when I don't fight them off. Of course they won't know that I just got done running 10 miles and was worn out. So there is that.

Week 13 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5 /
Wednesday - 7 / 2 @ 6:56
Thursday - 5 / 7 @ 8:28
Friday - off / 7 @ 8:58
Saturday - 7 / 7 @ 9:10
Sunday - 10 / 10 @ 9:35
Total - 34 / 33. Wednesday we had a PT test so I took Tuesday off so my legs would be fresh. I would have liked to gone a bit faster on the 2 miler but was pretty happy with my time. In case you were curious, I had the high score out of the entire S1. Not bad for a 31 year old desk jockey. Of course I haven't brought this up at all since!