CALF = DNF; Chicago Marathon 2011 Race Result

Twenty one successful Marathons, and then Chicago, 2011 - my first DNF! It was disappointing, as I had four very good months of training to prepare. Then, in Houston on my final semi-long training run one week prior to the Chicago Marathon I violated my Kenyan Way coach's good advice and ran 45-seconds faster than my target marathon pace. After nine-miles I felt my right calf-muscle suddenly cramp-up, which wasn't relieved by stretching. This feeling unfortunately didn't go away fully in the subsequent week's taper, and briefly got much worse only two days before. Despite my continued discomfort I decided to start the race, but, with my calf hurting badly and cognizant of the Houston Marathon only three months off, I exited the course to capture the following video of the elite men's race on my iPod Nano at miles 1.5, 13.1, 16.5 and the finish. Despite all my years of running this was literally my first opportunity to spectate a world-class marathon event, and I truly enjoyed it!

Chicago Marathon Taper Has Begun!

This Saturday I completed my final 20-mile training run in anticipation of the 2011 Chicago Marathon, and I'm excited! I had a good 10.5 mile early-morning solo training run, then met-up with my wonderfully trustful and steady-paced training partner Allison and the Kenyan Way group, where we together ran another 10 miles. Thank God for the ice-cold Gatorade provided every two or three miles by Sean Wade (a huge perk of Kenyan Way versus other Houston-based marathon training programs!)

Despite high starting temperatures of 75 degrees and 90% percent humidity I managed to hold onto my goal Chicago marathon pace (MP) of ~8:00 for 15 miles (I'm shooting for a 3:29 so-as to re-BQ by 6-minutes for 2013). However, the heavy sweat running down my legs directly into my shoes and socks gave them each nearly a full pound of added weight, which combined with my increasing fatigue from holding my goal pace despite such conditions translated into a slowing cadence and pace. Nevertheless, for the full 20-miles I was delighted to have averaged an 8:22 pace despite such conditions, which - knock-on-wood - I will not find in Chicago on October 9th!

This morning, in surveying my list of top running-related blogs I read an especially apt one from Pre-Dawn Runner, recommending that we treat our tapers both as an opportunity to invest in ourselves while mixing things up in our tapering training runs. I'm completely on-board both recommendations. During past tapers I've typically offset my gradually reduced mileage with a gradually increased pace, eventually with all my remaining training mileage matching my goal MP. However, at Memorial Park today feeling especially sharp due to my having taken yesterday off I ran my full eight miles a good ~30-seconds per mile faster than MP, which felt great!

To everyone also running the 2011 Chicago Marathon (or another marathon two to four weeks out) I wish you the best of luck, and truly encourage each of you to have a great experience!

Chicago Marathon training update

So, with a bit less than 12 weeks until the Chicago Marathon I've received a few questions from my running-oriented friends concerning how my training is going, and what will be my race goal. To the first question I'm happy that my training has gone fairly well, thanks to the Kenyan Way Saturday morning long run and my perfectly steady-paced training partner Alison. While I've also managed to get in good weekday training runs (thanks to the well situated 24 Hour Fitness Center that's close to the scenic and well shaded Rice University outer loop) my refusal to do speed or tempo work on the cooler indoor treadmills will compromise any realistic shot for an ambitious Chicago goal. So, presuming ideal Windy City weather (i.e with finishing temperatures no higher than 70F) my goal time will be an easy 3:29, running at a steady 8:00 pace with the Nike pacing group.  

Looking deeper into my proverbial crystal ball in the subsequent three months between Chicago and Houston, if all goes well my Houston ambitious goal will be to P.R. with a 3:19. We'll see!  

Olympian Paula Radcliffe: “I can't imagine living and not running.”

Use your Alarm Clock to Beat the Heat

To prevent another self-interrupted long-run swelter fest I decided to start my run an hour earlier than Kenyan Way's normal 6:00 AM group start. I'm glad I did!

To comply with Sean Wade's bot-generated Chicago Marathon training plan I wanted to get a full 15 miles in today. With pre-dawn Houston temperatures forecast - again - to be hot and humid (77°F with a 73°F DP), and with the rising sun quickly worsening those conditions, I arranged with my wonderfully steady paced training partner to meet an hour early. Besides the earlier start we agreed to back down a bit on our pace for the first half of the run, to ~8:15 or so. The combination clearly helped, demonstrated by our achieving our target negative split and feeling strong throughout.  When faced with hot and humid conditions use your alarm clock and a somewhat slowed target pace to help you achieve your training objectives nevertheless.

Side Bar. Read this fascinating Globe and Mail article on running in the heat.  Also, if you don't already follow these excellent blogger runners, here are two especially interesting recent ones: Pete with Runblogger and Jaymee with Run Away Fast.

Chicago Marathon Race Report

On this, my second Chicago Marathon I was only passably prepared, and my overall time reflected same. While not an absolutely horrible time it was a true learning experience! Being excessively optimistic as to my pace I had my eyes set on running a 3:30, so ran with the 3:30 pacing group approximately through the half-marathon mark. However, shortly after passing my family at mile 13.5 I suddenly began losing my leg strength, and had to slow-down. My slow-down continued until by mile 21 or so I was doing the run-walk shuffle! True learning experience.... Better know your potential pace (easily gauged via the famous "Yasso 800" methodology (see link)

Official Race Results: Time: 04:12:30; Age 45-49: 1071/2115; Male: 9515/18389; Overall: 13538/32706

Chicago Marathon Race Report!

My first Chicago Marathon! I loved it - for MANY reasons. First, Chicago is my original home. Born and grew up here. Second, Chicago has a BEAUTIFUL marathon. Unbelievably beautiful course, staring at Grant Park, running north through hoards of screaming Chicagoens. Dozens of different ethnic neighborhoods, each of which turn-out to show support. Of course, the city is flat as a proverbial pancake, so it's well suited for P.R.'s, which this one was - allowing me to knock over an hour and ten minutes off my first marathon (the primary reasons for the improvement is my having trained much better and longer, and with the benefit of running partners - primarily from the Houston Fit group).

Official Race Results: Time: 03:50:50; Age 45-49: 648/2089; Male: 6142/19005; Overall: 7867/32989