The Home Stretch
It’s three weeks to the Chicago Marathon and we’re hitting the home stretch and are getting ready to taper. Today, we did a 20-mile run along Lake Michigan in Chicago. It was the Ready to Run 20 Miler and was organized and sponsored by the Chicago Area Runners Association. It was not a race. Rather it was an organized run for those doing a fall marathon who are now at the point in most training programs where you run 20 miles.
It was designed primarily for those training for Chicago. Judging from the conversation, it seemed that the vast majority of runners today—about 3,000—are indeed running in Chicago in three weeks. However, there are a few other noteworthy fall marathons that I’m sure are on the agenda for some of the others.
It’s exciting and inspiring to be out on a training run with hundreds of others and with the incredible cityscape of Chicago as your background. It definitely carried us through the run. And, it was a nice change from the usual locations of our longer runs.
The run itself started at the Foster Ave. Beach and ended 20 miles later at the South Shore Cultural Center. As it has been during this year's training, my run fell into a pattern. The first few miles were a little rough; getting warmed up and settled into a groove. Miles 7 to 10 were great, as they usually are for me, as the motor was revving well and I felt like I could go forever. Then came what I refer to as the Dark Times, where I typically encounter some kind of soreness or something that forces me to push through the pain.
The suffering hit around 13 to 15 as my stomach, for some reason, felt tight and heavy. It was not the usual suffering and was damn frustrating. Not sure if it was a little overhydration or what, but it wasn't pleasant.
That essentially continued during the last 5 miles as I willed myself to the finish. However, I'm not that concerned about it as we stayed on pace the entire time (slightly below 10 min/mile) and finished strong. Just something for me to keep in mind as we get ready for the marathon itself.
We've now run 304 miles in 13 weeks training for this race. Has it been tougher physically or mentally? More on the mind versus body battle that is marathon training in a new post in a day or two. . .
It was designed primarily for those training for Chicago. Judging from the conversation, it seemed that the vast majority of runners today—about 3,000—are indeed running in Chicago in three weeks. However, there are a few other noteworthy fall marathons that I’m sure are on the agenda for some of the others.
It’s exciting and inspiring to be out on a training run with hundreds of others and with the incredible cityscape of Chicago as your background. It definitely carried us through the run. And, it was a nice change from the usual locations of our longer runs.
The run itself started at the Foster Ave. Beach and ended 20 miles later at the South Shore Cultural Center. As it has been during this year's training, my run fell into a pattern. The first few miles were a little rough; getting warmed up and settled into a groove. Miles 7 to 10 were great, as they usually are for me, as the motor was revving well and I felt like I could go forever. Then came what I refer to as the Dark Times, where I typically encounter some kind of soreness or something that forces me to push through the pain.
The suffering hit around 13 to 15 as my stomach, for some reason, felt tight and heavy. It was not the usual suffering and was damn frustrating. Not sure if it was a little overhydration or what, but it wasn't pleasant.
That essentially continued during the last 5 miles as I willed myself to the finish. However, I'm not that concerned about it as we stayed on pace the entire time (slightly below 10 min/mile) and finished strong. Just something for me to keep in mind as we get ready for the marathon itself.
We've now run 304 miles in 13 weeks training for this race. Has it been tougher physically or mentally? More on the mind versus body battle that is marathon training in a new post in a day or two. . .
posted by W.S. Wuori at 9:00 PM
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