Taylor Dadds and Training for the Chicago Marathon

Health coach and blogger extraordinaire, Taylor Dadds shared her two-month Chicago Marathon training update with us.  

Two months! Here we are. (Well a little over two months, but you get it.) I knew this training was going to be hard, but dang, I didn’t expect it to go this route. I guess you can never expect what’s going to happen. I’ve had my ups and downs with running but I’ll forever be grateful for the ability to do this because it challenges me in all areas of my life.

So, a little recap! My body started to hurt. Miles were picking up and my legs weren't having it. I was doing the recovery (probably not as much as I should have been) but sometimes you forget about those things until everything starts to hurt, unfortunately. Before that, I was having some great runs and bad runs. It was a constant wave of being like “Wow, I feel great!” to “Wow, if it’s hard for me to do 14 miles, how in the world am I going to do 26.2 miles?” All of these thoughts and feelings are completely valid while training for a race and that’s something I’ve had to remind myself throughout this process.

Here’s the thing: One bad run doesn’t mean you’re a bad runner. It’s just an extra challenge for you, mentally and physically. These challenges cause you to GROW. And it makes the next good run bittersweet. This is something I have to remind myself all the time.

Without running the last two weeks, I’ve been questioning whether or not I was even going to be able to do this race. I’ve done everything from swimming laps at the pool, lots of spinning when I could, yoga, extra recovery sessions, started doing PT, and essentially two weeks completely off of running to get it feeling better. And it’s getting there! As the race gets closer, I will be changing up my training schedule in order to hopefully not have these issues again. That will look like more cross training with running and even more strength work to get my legs stronger.

I knew it was going to be hot this summer, but I really didn’t realize how much that was going to affect my training. If you’re in Austin or you’ve been here in the summer months, you know what I’m talking about. Its HOT. With this Austin heat, I’ve realized above all how important it is to hydrate. I’ve noticed that even when I think I am drinking enough water, I’m more than likely not. I’m sure you’ve probably heard me talk about Nuunand these have been a lifesaver throughout training. I always have a Nuun Sport tube with me whether it’s in my gym bag or laying on my counter. I take these before a run or really any workout to give an extra hydration boost. My last long run, I had filled up my water bottle up with this and came back for it when I had a couple miles left and it totally gave me that extra push I was needing to get through.

If you have you’re eye on a fall half or full marathon, I would totally sign up for the awesome campaign that Nuunhas going on right now called Ready, Set, PR.It’s completely free to sign up and you receive a training plan made by NAZ Elite Run Coach, Ben Rosario and it includes all of the hydration tips to follow with Nuun! Having a training plan keeps you accountable and it’s so rewarding to see what you’re capable of throughout the process of training.

We have exactly 47 days until race day!! AH it’s crazy to think it’s already so soon. I’m looking forward to finishing out this training hopefully without any other setbacks and minimal soreness ;) Looking forward to bringing you all along the journey! xx