Chicago Marathon Training Thread (Page 8)

I'm done running. If the knee feels better I'll go out and do some short ones before the race, but otherwise, I'm done!!! I just hope this frickin' thing heals up sooner rather than later.

Time for a nice jog this sun.

Well, that hurt.

But I got it done. PR'd, even!!! Booyah! Did everybody survive?

That was, by and far, the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I've got a long way to go until IMWI next year.

GI issues for miles 21-24 - not a fun time. Set a PR, but it was my first marathon Let's just say this one race was a pretty low bar to beat for next time.

I did the Chicago Oly Trip this year and came in one minute behind my targeted time. Made up for it this year w/a 3:29 marathon time... a while minute under my target! Brutal last four miles but they ended up being the fastest of the entire race. I LOVE the Chicago Marathon!

Tomorrow I'm switching gears and putting on the road bike hat. My knees really miss my bike.

Please, please post your experiences. My runner's high is still active.

One of the longest marathons I've done....ugh. I got to mile 10 and said...damn this race is taking a LLLOOONNNGGG time. ha ha ha.

i jogged the entire thing nice and easy but for some reason the last 4 miles hurt...i HATE when that happens. I figured if I jogged it slow the ENTIRE race would feel just fine....nope.

Respect the distance!

Coolest thing about the race is I was 10 people back from the start line and 4 feet away from the mayor.

Most amazing thing about the race is that at the end I just thought about how blessed we are to be able to participate in this event. 45,000 ordinary people all accomplishing something extraordinary together.

Event though this is my 9th marathon, the amount of impact that thought has on me each race never diminishes. I always remind myself to stay grounded and never take for granted our athletic abilities and accomplishments.

Congrats to everyone that finished. What another amazing experience to be part of!

Now that I'm a few days post-race, it's all sunk in a bit - I was really surprised at how many people came out to cheer, and just seeing the city from that perspective is something entirely and completely new to me. I've lived in and around Chicago most of my life, but seeing 26 miles of Chicago via the Shoe Leather Express is almost beyond words.

Woohooo PR here as well. Chicago was my first marathon last year & this year I took 29+ minutes off my time SO00 excited but now I am like whats next whats next?!?! Also last year I walked funny for days now I am so ready to gooooo. So ready that I wanna switch my Naperville half to a full (Nov. 10th) anyone else doing this??? or know of specific plans for marathons 4 weeks apart!
Congrats to all .... Gotta LOVE CHICAGO

a couple years ago I did fox valley marathon, then chicago marathon, then lakefront 50/50 and they were all 3 weeks apart from each other. depending on how hard you went at chicago (probably not so hard since you are "walking normal" already) I might suggest a drop back next week to 15-18ish. then the following week go back up to 20-22ish (or 3-3.5hrs max), then taper back down to 10ish 1 week before race. keep your regular mid week run distance and intensity as you've been doing up to chicago.

good luck on nov 10th!!!!!

Third marathon and also a PR for me by 36:07. Felt great over the first half but at 21 my quads started cramping. Had to stop a few times and dig my thumbs in to loosen them a bit. Had been hoping to go under 4 hours but with the stops it was 4:06. Two years ago for my very first marathon I did Chicago in 5:36:40 so this was quite an improvement on that.

Congratulations to everyone!!

I would do that if I were you. Sadly, the race is sold out so I can't get in. Boo!

So my race went way better than expected. I woke up, put on the knee brace and walked out the door. Turned around and went back in and put on the rest of my clothes. Hopped down to 7-11 and grabbed a bottle of water, a bagel and a 5-Hour Energy. Some random dude payed the 18 cents I was shy (it was $6.18, I had $6), so thanks for that, random dude. Finally got to Corral C and found my friend and former coworker Leslie. She said she was going to run flat 8s once it cleared out, so I decided to stick with her. The knee never did start to hurt worse, but I did start developing a blister on the bottom of my left foot at about mile 8. At mile 13 I had to stop to adjust my sock to keep it from getting worse, so Leslie ditched me. I then had to stop at mile 14 to turn the sock inside out. And at mile 16 I stopped at the aid station to get some tape over it. That seemed to at least keep it from getting worse. Then miles 16 through 25 were pretty much a blur. I remember thinking `Nothing is going wrong, something will any second now!' but it never did. Passed the 3:40 runners at about mile 20 and decided come hell or high water, I wasn't going to let them pass me. Saw another friend at mile 25 and then headed for home. Turned the corner to go up Roosevelt, then down Columbus to the finish. Crossed the finish lined, grabbed a couple beers and some water, took a couple of photos and then walked home with the wife. We live at Congress and Dearborn so it was a three block walk, beer in hand. Great day -- I PRd, finished 3:37:52, officially, in my 12th marathon!!!

Now I gots the running bug again!

Just curious if anyone else ended up running significantly farther than the 26.2. I ended up over 26.7 to get to the finish line tons of zig zagging through the crowds. This was my first marathon and wasn't sure if that was pretty normal for the chicago marathon. I am assuming the smaller marathons end up much closer to the 26.2?

27.03 here.

DC Rainmaker has an interesting post on how courses are measured: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/03/racing-line-understanding-how-co... .

The actual distance ran depends on the runner and how close you follow the imaginary measuring line.

26.38. No wonder I was so tired.

I have gotten 26.3 once on a trail marathon (crush limestone bike path really). I ran lone for most of the course and only had a few people to dodge. That was with the Garmin 305.

26.7 is still 98.1% accurate assuming you ran all the tangents perfectly which would still be pretty dang accurate for any measuring device.

I never worry too much about the total distance unless its under (without knowing a good reason for it) or its way over. I had one marathon measured over a mile more. turns out we had a .9 mile extra added to the race at the start because of a house fire on the course.

Great job...congrats on that PR. Also its nice that you went back in to put on the rest of your clothes. Running in just a knee brace might be a tad awk!!!! lol --yes I read that soooo wrong!

THANKS for the advice!!!! Yes I was exhausted just thinking of 3 that close!!!!
I did feel like I was holding back the whole race because I was scared of having a race like the previous year. But I pr'ed by 29 minutes so I was happy. Then when I woke the next day and I feel totally fine I was mad I didnt push harder (lessons still learned)
3:53:16 for my second marathon I have to be happy

Yeah I think for my next one I'm going to push it as hard as I can for as long as I can and see at which point I completely blow up. I'm thinking I can make it 22 miles before the wheels come off. But 3:53 for your second 'thon is a great time! You should be very proud of that.

Now I'm thinking of finding a late-season race nearby. If there are any.

So how's everyone feeling?

I'm very surprised at the deep muscle fatigue still being present. Ran a 5-miler yesterday without problems, but I'm feeling like a kitten on the bike right now - it's like I can't hold anything above 160 watts.