This is my Indianapolis Monumental Marathon training week 5 recap covering every run from August 11–17, 2026. This was the week a derecho tore through the Chicago and northwest Indiana area with winds over 90 mph and multiple tornadoes, leaving my city without power for over a week, gas stations unable to pump fuel, and my running trail buried under downed trees and snapped power lines. Training took a back seat to survival this week — I still managed 19.2 miles across three runs, but this recap is as much about getting through a natural disaster as it is about marathon training.
Week of August 11, 2026 · 3 runs · a derecho, a week without power, and 19.2 miles that happened almost by accident
This trail used to be so full of trees you couldn’t see the sky. Now you can see all of it. 🌪️
I don’t really know how to write a normal training recap for this week, because this wasn’t a normal week. On Tuesday, August 11, a derecho moved through the Chicago and northwest Indiana area with straight-line winds over 90 mph — a gust of 99 mph was recorded not far from us — and eight confirmed tornadoes touched down in the area. My city was decimated. We lost power for over a week, with parts of town still estimated to be out for another week beyond that. Gas stations couldn’t pump fuel because they had no power either, so on top of everything else, we were stranded. Food spoiled. Work shut down. The whole city was pitch black at night. This recap is going to look different from the others, because the week itself looked nothing like training.
I’m not going to pretend the mileage mattered much this week. It didn’t. What mattered was getting through it. But I’ll walk through what running did happen, because some of it is worth talking about — mostly the fact that it happened at all.
Indy Monumental Marathon Training Week 5: The Runs
| Day | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, August 11 | 5.2 Miles (planned 6) | Ran laps near home in the dark after the derecho hit — cut short due to storm damage 🌪️ |
| Thursday, August 13 | Rest (missed) | Another storm rolled through — skipped, no power meant no gym or treadmill option either |
| Saturday, August 15 | 6 Miles (planned 14) | Long run cut short — trails at our rental cabin flooded overnight from a storm 💧 |
| Sunday, August 17 | 8 Miles | Drove home exhausted, ran late in almost 90° heat on a partially cleared trail 🔥 |
Tuesday: The Derecho
The storm hit Tuesday morning and afternoon, and by the time it passed, the trail I run almost every day was unrecognizable. Trees were down everywhere, sidewalks had snapped power lines running across them, and there was no way to get anywhere near our usual routes. We still had 6 miles planned, so we ran laps close to home instead, weaving around debris in the dark since the power was already out. We got 5.2 done before it just wasn’t safe to keep going and called it.
Downed power lines were everywhere. This was the norm on every street for days. ⚡
That night, and for the better part of the week after, dinner meant whatever we could find that didn’t need power, eaten by candlelight.
Dinner by candlelight became routine for over a week. 🕯️
Thursday: Skipped
By Thursday another storm had rolled through, and I just couldn’t bring myself to try to run in it. The gym had no power either, so a treadmill wasn’t an option even if I’d wanted one. Between the darkness, the debris still covering every route near us, and genuinely not having it in me after the week we’d had, I skipped the run entirely. I’m not going to pretend that was a hard call to make — it wasn’t. Some weeks the right decision is obvious.
On top of all of it, gas was its own ordeal. With stations unable to pump fuel, the lines that were open stretched for hours.
Three hours in line for gas. This was one of the shorter waits people reported. ⛽
Saturday: The Cabin Trip
We had a cabin trip planned five months out, long before any of this happened, and we decided to go anyway since it was already paid for. Saturday was supposed to be our 14-mile long run. Instead, a storm hit the night we arrived and flooded the trails at the cabin. We started the run as a family before realizing how bad the flooding actually was and having to turn back. We got 6 miles instead of 14.
Starting the run together before the flooding turned us around. 💧
Sunday: 8 Miles, Late and Hot
We drove home Sunday completely wiped out from the week and the travel, which pushed our run later in the day than we would have liked — almost 90 degrees by the time we got out there. The trail had been cleared some, but not nearly enough to run our normal route. There genuinely wasn’t much runnable ground. We pieced together 8 miles from what was available and called it done.
Looking at the trail now, it’s hard to process. It used to be full enough of trees that you couldn’t see the sky through the canopy. Now you can see all of it, because most of the trees are gone.
Honest Check-In
19.2 miles total this week, across three runs that each got cut short for a different reason. I’m not framing that as a failure. Given what our city went through — the wind damage, the power outage, the flooding, the gas shortage, losing our food, work being closed — getting out the door at all felt like something. Given the severity of the storms and how disruptive this week was, we’re calling the next two weeks deload weeks. There’s no version of pushing hard right now that makes sense, physically or otherwise.
Training will pick back up when it can. Right now the priority is just getting our city, and ourselves, back to some kind of normal.
You can follow along with the full journey on my Training & Progress page.
- Deload weeks planned through recovery from the derecho damage
- Trails still need significant clearing before normal routes are runnable
- Back to full training once power and routine are restored
