Chicago Marathon Training Week 1

Yes, yes, yes, I am still here. I haven’t blogged in over a month but I’m still here! It has been a routine life with less running and lots of biking. It’s been mostly relaxed training sessions just to keep up my fitness.

You can click on the above image to see the details (if you care).

On Monday, June 19, I officially started my 16-week Chicago Marathon training. The heat has kicked it up a notch (or 2) in Scottsdale over the past week. This makes outdoor training tough; but I still managed a long 13.1-mile (half marathon) training run yesterday around my house.

Chicago Marathon Week 1 Training Recap:

  • Monday, June 19, 2017: Rest Day
  • Tuesday, June 20, 2017: Easy Run | 4.8 miles | 40 mins | Treadmill (The Village) | 
  • Wednesday, June 21, 2017: Went for a group ride at Airpark Bikes but cancelled due to heat | Forced Rest Day!
  • Thursday, June 22, 2017: Pace Booster Run with 3 repeats times 6 min at Steady State| 7.2 miles | 60 mins | Treadmill (The Village)
  • Friday, June 23, 2017: Rest Day
  • Saturday, June 24, 2017: Long, Steady Run | 13.1 miles | 1:52 hrs | DC Ranch Hills
  • Sunday, June 25, 2017: Swim | 1,150 yds | 20 mins | The Village

The Chicago Marathon is on October 8. I expect a rocky training season. I’ll be fighting the heat constantly; hence I’ll be relegated to the treadmill. I’m not complaining though; I trained for Berlin last year in similar circumstances. We also have travel plans coming up in July and again in September!

In July, we are off to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks for a few days. I wonder if it’s a good idea to run in bear-country! I suppose we will hike a lot which will make up for some of the lack of training.

In September, we are off to Bali for Maithili’s wedding with a side-trip to Borneo. There will be virtually no training in Borneo but I hope to get a few training sessions in while in Bali. I’m sure I will upload a few pictures on Instagram (@gpar2000 in case you care) and will surely track my training on Starva (@gparekh in case you case).

Other than training, my newfound interest in birding takes up some of my time. We now have two bird-feeders with thistle seed in our front yard. It’s a daily feeding frenzy with Goldfinches stealing the show followed closely by House Finches. An occasional woodpecker, Flicker, Pyrrhuloxia and plenty of doves lap up the scraps on the ground. They make a mess, but I love to see them happily quarreling for the best spots as they flit about gracefully. Here are a couple of recent pics!

Pyrrhuloxia in our garden
House Finch

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