My road to the Chicago Marathon

This week started the quality phase of Chicago Marathon!!! I am kind of excited about it if you can’t tell.

Since coming back from the hamstring injury that derailed my Spring marathon goals I have been focused on getting my body ready for these 16 weeks of training and one ‘A’ race: The Chicago Marathon and I think I have done a fair job of that. I am ready to tackle these 16 weeks.

My current obsession: Chicago 2013. I will run a 2:45

The last time we spoke I was on my way to a 40 mile week. I have been steadily increasing my mileage from that point and working on getting some semblance of strength in my running.

My last five weeks of building have been-42, 43, 50, 55, 57. I am happy with my progress. Now is when the real fun starts!

Monday started with a good effort session of an 8 mile run with 6 @ tempo alternating paces from slightly above to slightly below Aerobic Threshold (AT). It was hot and humid and I was a little tired from the weekend but I felt good. The two other stress sessions for the week will be 3 x 2 mile repeats on Thursday and then a Fast Finish 14 mile run on Sunday…everything else will be easy.

For Chicago, I am trying something new and using a 14 day micro cycle as opposed to the standard 7 day cycle I have used for previous marathons. Ater studying and researching various training approaches I decided that the 14 day cycle is right for me as it allows for more effort sessions and keeps the long runs to the weekend. I drew a lot of my cycle inspiration from the 2016 USA Marathon Trials Project and the enormous amounts of free information that is contained. The team is coached by Mark Hadley…he also has a ton of great information available on the web if you are inclined to learn.

Over these next 16 weeks, I am fully mentally and physically committed to pushing my body to the limit in the effort to harden it for my run at a 2:45 marathon. I am not going to lie…I am kind of obsessive on it. Maybe it is the fact that by the time I race Chicago it will be 20 months since I last raced a marathon. Yes, I ran Boston and did Ironman Wisconsin, and PR’d the half with a 1:18 in that time, but there is something special to racing a marathon in my mind and I am itching to do it again.

The current plan is to run two half marathons in the lead up to Chicago to practice racing again and to gauge the fitness level. My current plan is to run the Planet Adventure Eagle Creek Half in early August and then the Chicago Half around Labor Day. I have ran the EC Half before, two years ago I ran it under Lindsey’s 10K bib. I took an unofficial 3rd in the race, so depending on how I feel and who  else race I’d like to try and take a shot at the win… I’ve never won a race before so that would be cool. Its ran on the west side of the park so it is a pretty tough course….right up my alley. We will see how it goes though.

I am ready for the challenge of the next 16 weeks. Do Work. Get Fast.

Any big race plans for this fall? Looking to crush some goals? Lets’s hear about them!