Holy Crapathon, Batman!

60 days to Chicago? Are you freakin' kidding me?!

A good little monkey, I took it easy for a couple of weeks after Barb's Race. For the most part. There was one 15 mile run. I'll explain later.

My boyfriend and I took a little vacation down to Santa Barbara where we ate, drank, and slept in. The only exercise I did in Santa Barbara was cruiser down the coast for a few miles. Now I am looking at my training log for the past two weeks, with a bunch of random/short workouts and days off, and it's freaking me out.

On June 19th, I received an email, reminding me that the month of June is the official start to training season for the Chicago Marathon. (Many training plans, like Hal Higdon, are 18 weeks long.) Let's see, Hal Higdon's training plan for the week of June 19th includes: 26 miles or running, with a long run of 10 miles. My half Ironman-distance training, on the other hand, included: about 18 miles of running, 70 miles of biking, and a couple of miles in the pool.

So how does that add up? Well...

Fast forward to the week after Barb's Race (marathon training week 7), when Hal Higdon suggested a 16 mile run. I mean, I took a couple of days off, and it was only a week after Barb's Race. I can run a half marathon in my sleep. I am a superhero, people! How hard can 16 miles be?

POW! BANG! WoaH! Yikes!

I only made it to 15 miles. Sure, it might have been fatigue from the race, and not enough recovery time, but that mere 5k extra was just too much. It was a flashback to marathon training last winter. WOAh!

I knew when I signed up, that the Chicago Marathon would be an experiment. I am determined to keep up with some biking and swimming, so that will cut down on some marathon miles, but I am also hoping it might improve how I feel overall. Last winter, I felt like going back to just running was too difficult on my legs, and it probably took me until March to feel normal again.