I was trying to take a picture during my long run which showed the shirt and shorts I’ve decided to wear for the Chicago Marathon but the sun was shining down and gave me this great picture instead.

I think in order to recap Week 12 of my Chicago Marathon training we need to revisit the end of Week 11.

Because Monday’s easy 3 miles wasn’t all that easy - the legs were a little sore - but that’s only because of all of the miles that came at the end of Week 11…which was a huge success in my book.

Here, I’ll throw the week up at this point and then I’ll explain further:

Monday: 3.01 miles, 10:16/mi

Tuesday: 20 minute Low Impact Bike Ride

Wednesday: Did the Runner’s World Plyometric Strength Workout

Thursday: 3.1 miles on the treadmill

Friday: 4 miles, 11:13/mi

Saturday: 10 miles, with 6 at tempo, 10:21/mi

Also, let’s get this formality out of the way, because I decided it would live here rather than going back and editing last week’s post:

Total Miles for Week 11: 26.91

Total Miles Overall: 258.35

I’ll put the totals through Week 12 at the end of the post.

OK. So back to the end of Week 11. I forgot to tell this story about the end of my 4th leg, but it is important, because I’ve always heard the adage that your body will remember the training, but I don’t know that I’ve exactly lived that moment…until the end of leg 4.

I was tired - I was on hardly any sleep, I had already run about 16 grueling miles, and I had run hard for 2 of my final 2.9 miles. I was ready to coast it in, hand off the timing bracelet, and begin my recovery.

But then I thought about the Chicago Marathon, and how I was going to have to run when I was tired, and I went a little further and then there was about a quarter mile left and I thought about the intervals I’ve been doing for these past two and a half months. A quarter mile? That’s the easy interval. I can do that - and I know I can do that in less than 2:20. So I said let me go hard for 2 minutes. And I did. And my body responded. I got faster as I ran and by the end I was sprinting to the gate. It was pretty wonderful.

All of Reach the Beach for me was a pretty good confidence builder for Chicago because nothing in Chicago will be that difficult except for the total mileage.

But that last run in particular really felt like a moment where all of the training paid off.

And even though there was some soreness this week, that thought definitely got me through the workouts this week - all of the work will be paying off on the streets of Chicago.

Now, that said - I did change up the intervals this week. There was rain threatening in the forecast Wednesday, and it was a busy day anyway, and I decided to swap my Thursday strength and Wednesday intervals. (It didn’t rain.)

Thursday morning it did rain and I did a Peloton class on the treadmill. A shorter interval workout, but a workout nonetheless.

It felt right - it didn’t feel like I needed to push things this week with Reach the Beach having just happened and a 10 miler with 6 at tempo for my long run.

The good news? The legs felt good for the long run on Saturday - I felt pretty strong for a pretty tough run.

Chicago is getting close. Pretty exciting. Soon we’ll see how the training in its entirety will pay off.

Total Miles for Week 12: 20.11

Total Miles Overall: 278.46