Chicago Marathon Training: Week 5 Complete

One word for this week: exhaustion. It was a very busy week that left me with little sleep and in turn caused me to have a sore throat and just feel tired most of the time. I ended up not doing much cross training and instead took an extra day of rest. Thank goodness this recovery week came at the right time.

Ballet went a bit better. I felt more comfortable with what to expect, but still have a lot of work to do.

Today I felt much better. We took a flight to Jefferson City, MO for lunch at the airport. The food was just okay, but the flight was great and it was a new place to see!

Here are some pictures on the way there:

When we got back we did our easy run around our neighborhood. I pushed my pace a little to kinda shake things out.

Here is how my recovery week ended up:
M: Rest
T: 6 Miles Easy (Treadmill, 1% incline, 8:34 pace)
W: Bike 6.3 Miles Easy (P1, L4, 16.43 mph), 7 Miles Speedwork (Treadmill, 1% incline, 8:20 pace w/3x1600s @ 7:41 w/800 jogs)
R: Adult Ballet 1 Hour
F: Rest
Sa: 6 Miles Easy (‘Hood, 9:05 pace)
Su: 5.3 Miles Easy (‘Hood, 8:26 pace)

Total Running Miles: 24.3

Up next: Rock and Roll Half Marathon!!

We Can Dance If We Want To…

Queue the SAFETY DANCE theme music for this post…actually don’t. So Ritter and I had our first ballet class last night. A 14 year hiatus from ballet for me, yikes! And jazz a few years ago didn’t help my cause. It was an hour long class. I must say that I was concerned that the class may be too elementary and not challenging. Actually it turned out to be good instruction and the class moved along quickly with nothing too basic. The instructor was very good. He is an older man with a lot of experience and yet wasn’t arrogant or cold. Instead he had a good way of explaining movements and his critiques of us were good. I learned finally how to get my arms in second correctly. I used to keep my elbows too high and wrists not turned down enough. And I need to work on elongating my neck. So the class exceeded my expectations. However, there were some cons….all related to me. First, being in a leotard is not the most flattering thing, in fact I think I would take a bikini over a leotard. Second, I was the oldest in the room. And third, ballet didn’t come back to me easily. Instead I got to see how inflexible I have become and was reminded how difficult ballet was (let alone that I’m not in my teens anymore).

So great class and instructor, not so much digging my abilities. I’ve paid for the rest of the summer already so I just need to see if seven days is long enough time for me to amp myself up to go back for more. Right now I’m on the fence about it.

Chicago Marathon Training: Week 2 Day 2

Yesterday was a cross training day so I did Leg and Ab stengthening. Today I had a 5 Miles Speedwork and I also tried out a new Ballet DVD that I got called “Element: Ballet Conditioning”. It is 51 minutes long and focuses on various parts of the body. I did the first two chapters (30 mins) that focused on the thighs and glutes. I enjoyed being reintroduced to the basic movements and felt it in all of my muscles. I think this video will be a great addition to my routine.

5 Miles Speedwork (Treadmill, 1% incline, 8:23 pace, 2 Miles @ 7:47 w/.5 Mile Jogs)
Element: Ballet Conditioning 30 mins

Twinkle Toes

I registered for Adult Ballet this summer that will begin mid-July for one night a week. Dancing was my primary activity growing up and I’m excited to get back into it. I haven’t had a dance class in a few years. 🙂

To help me prepare for upcoming class I’m going to try and work on my flexibilty. Which will should be a benefit to my running. Today was a cross training day so I did my advanced pilates DVD.

Pilates (Advanced, 22 mins)