Registration now closed for Chicago Marathon

All the spots are now taken for the Chicago Marathon – at the beginning of last week there were 4,000 left and by the end of the week 0.

Made it through my 5 miler last night feeling good (used a 3:30 to 1:00 run walk interval). It looks like it might actually stay warm from now on which should mean no more long runs on the treadmill. A little note on running gear – on my 4 mile run I made the error of wearing regular running shorts and had my first experience of extreme chaffing on my thighs. As a result of that experience I advise anyone doing longer runs, especially in the warmer weather, to wear lycra shorts or running tights since they cut down on the friction and can save you lost training time.

Since it is getting warmer out (finally) we all need to pay attention to hydration and sun exposure and I’ll be posting information on these areas in upcoming weeks.

Training starts for real

I began this month by starting over at week one of training, since I began a month early. Even though I’ve been determined to not miss a day I was forced to miss the 4th through the 7th due to a low back strain. Since then I’ve been very diligent about my training even though much of it has been on the treadmill. This Sunday I’ll be back to long runs, another 5-6 miles, so I really hope that it’ll be warm out (that’s just to long to be running on a treadmill).

From now on I will be posting every Sunday or Monday night.

Start of real distance

This past Sunday was my first true long run 5.5 miles (I don’t consider anything under 4 miles to be truly long). I made it through using a 3:30 run 1:00 walk ratio (thanks to my new Gymboss timer). The run went great, especially since the weather was perfect, 78° with a cooling wind. Monday was tougher than I expected – I was very fatigued from Sunday’s run (I think my pace may have been a bit to fast) but the rest of this weeks runs have been fine.

Next Sunday’s run is short, 3 miles, but paced to correspond to marathon pace. After Sunday I’ll repeat these first 4 weeks since I started training a month early.

Training is right on track with the exception of my long run over the weekend – I missed it due to having class all weekend (something I forgot about until the last minute).

Cross training has consisted of “Kettlebell” workouts that prove to be short but intense, 15 to 25 minutes followed by a 10 to 20 minute jog..

If you ever plan to follow Galloway’s run/walk training for long runs I found a great timer that clips onto your shorts (or sweats) and can be set for recurring countdown followed by another period, that all keeps repeating. It’s called the “Gymboss timer” and can be found at http://www.gymboss.com/ for only $19.95. I plan on using it for my long runs as soon as it arrives (for a 4 minute run / 1 minute walk interval).

Running went great in Florida as you can see from the picture; I definitely miss the weather now that I’m back home. I’m continuing to train primarily on the treadmill due to the wind and cold but I’m hoping that this weekend will be warm enough for my 5-6 run (that’s to long and tedious to do on a treadmill).

On my first day of official training I decided to do my 40 minute walk outside. Today didn’t look windy and the temp was just below 40 so I thought I’d be okay. Well, I am okay but it was far from a comfortable experience – the wind was pretty constant which sucked the heat out of my face. The only comfortable moments were when I was walking backwards.

I advise anyone who wants to run outside in this area in cold weather to wear some kind of face mask or do what I’m going to do – run on the treadmill until it warms up enough.

For the second half of this week I get to escape the cold here in Plainfield and do my running in Florida.

Since this is the start of my official training for the marathon I decided to indulge the scientist side of me and make some measurements and see if anything changes by race time. Here they are: bodyweight 172lbs, body fat 17%.

I registered for the Chicago Marathon in the first week that open registration, I learned from last year that spots fill up fast.

Next weekend I'll be starting my training for the Chicago Marathon, a bit apprehensive but this is something I've had as a goal for a long time.

I'll be using Jeff Galloway's plan for training this year: http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/marathon.html
I trained last year using Higdon's program http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00index.htm but by the end of August (week 7 of the program) I wasn't able to get a bib for the race so I dropped my training at 12 miles for the long run.