Friday, May 1, 2015

The Year of the Full: Chapter Five - The Time Has Come!

Today marks the start of my training for the Chicago Marathon
I can't believe it's here! I've been so anxious to start and now that it's here I'm simply excited...

In 162 days I will be running 26.2 miles through the beautiful city streets of Chicago in a quest to earn the title of Bank of America Chicago Marathon Finisher! This will be my mantra...
I. Will. Not. Fail.
My full training was supposed to kick off with a run this morning but work has been crazy (early start and long hours) so I wasn't able to run. I also haven't been able to do much of the gym cross training exercises I was planning to do this week. And I didn't even make it to my Chi Running class! It really has been hectic over the past few days, but (on the bright side) I have been working on my push-up technique! It's not anywhere near what it should be but it's a lot better than a few days ago. I still have a lot more work to do though. This was my attempt (on video) for today...

Not horrible. But not great.

I know the video doesn't always work (depending on the device you view the blog from) so I pulled two frames from the video that show my best form (so far).
Starting position...

Ending position...
One day (this month) my elbows will get to 90 degrees. One day ;)

Although I missed running in the morning, I was able to make it to the gym for a short period after work today. I decided to test out my new swimming goggles, so I tried them on before I went to the gym to make sure they fit...
I had to readjust the straps several times so they weren't too tight. And it took a few minutes to get accustomed to them because they're tinted (which will come in handy for the open water swims but are not necessary for indoor pool swimming). I didn't count the laps today but I swam for 30 minutes and my goggles were great!!! I know the best test will be in the open water, but so far in the pool they are great!

The Wings for Life World Run is on Sunday! So I will be picking up my packet tomorrow and doing all the race prep stuff I typically do. This run will be a little different from last year's run I think because I'm not really nervous. Yet. I'm going to try and have fun without focusing on time, but I would like to complete at least a 10K...

Anyone else running in the Wings for Life World Run on Sunday?

Have you run a full marathon already? What is your greatest memory from your first full?

What is the #1 best advice for training for a full marathon?

4 comments:

  1. Chicago was my first marathon also! Crossing that finish line was amazing! Have fun!!

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  2. We are training for the same marathon! How cool is that? I am super excited to do Chicago. I hear that it is fast and flat which would be a nice change compared to the marathons I have run in my past experience. My number one piece of advice would be to make sure you get your long runs in and run them slow enough so that you can recover from them. My best memory frommy first marathon was when I saw my Garmin reading 24 and 25 miles and realizing that I was actually going to be a marathoner! And then crossing the finish line was totally awesome :-)

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    Replies
    1. I know!!! I'm so excited too! I'm planning for my long runs and scheduling enough recovery time in between. How many full marathons have you run already?

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