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14 miler recap

Ran 14 miles this past Saturday and it was pretty brutal. I think it was the 3rd most painful run I’ve ever run (San Dieguito Half Marathon and Chicago Marathon being the first two). I woke up late and I decided to just run at 11:00 AM to get it over with. Bad idea especially since it was 81 degrees or so when I started running. Thankfully it wasn’t too humid but it was still nonetheless pretty hot. Started with a 9:20 mile and then picked it up a little to about a 8:55, then I kind of went back and forth like that for about 10 miles. I brought a Gatorade with me that I placed near a McDonald’s after 3 miles in and then ran through a few neighborhoods and such until I hit 7 miles and then turned around. I really hate running in Bloomingdale since there aren’t many long trails so I just have to make up routes that involves crossing busy intersections which is annoying.

Anyway, after I hit mile 11 mile or so and I get back to McDonalds, I’m drained due to the heat. I go to McDonalds and get a water and then I pick up my Gatorade and keep running. Mile 11 to mile 12 was just awful since I was dehydrated and I walked a little to try to hydrate with my Gatorade. Anyway, mile 11 ends up being a 10:00/mile pace but after that slower mile, I felt a little bit better and I just wanted to get the run over so I picked it up. I finish my last 2 miles around a 8:00 to 8:30 a mile pace and finish 14.02 miles at 2 hours 7 minutes and 9 seconds which averages out to a 9:04/mile pace.

I’m pretty proud of having run 14 miles since this is the furthest I’ve ever run training by myself. I definitely need to pick up some speed though since I ran a 4 miler all-out tonight and barely broke 29 minutes (28:45). My training has been mostly at 8:00 to 8:30 mile paces with my long runs hovering around 9:05/mile. It’s weird, just this last year, I was training around a 7:30 to 7:45 mile pace, it’s so crazy how much can change in a year… This week is an easier week, so a 7 miler and a 5 miler for Wednesday/Thursday and an 11 miler on Saturday. Next week I’ll be running 15 miles for my long run and the following week 19 which will be my longest run before I start scaling back my miles to let my body recover a bit from all the pounding.

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Chicago Marathon Training Week 3: Progress Updates

I’ve been training for about 8 weeks now for the 2011 Chicago Marathon. The first 5 weeks were ramping up weeks where I just ran to build up some base miles. The past 3 weeks I’ve been doing 20+ miles at faster paces and I’ll max out at 34 miles the week of September 11. It’s been definitely quite the experience trying to stay committed to a running program while working 60+ hours a week. However, I can honestly say that the progress has been surprising and encouraging.

After I blew the San Dieguito Half Marathon in February with an abysmal 1:56:06 (20+ minutes slower than my PR of 1:35:44 at the Monumental Half Marathon), I kind of stopped running consistently for about 5 months. When I started running again, it was surprising to see how much endurance I had lost. I barely could do more than 3-4 miles at an 8:30+ pace and I just wasn’t feeling very good after any run. I’ve gotten now to the point where I can do 7 miles at an 8:00/mile pace and still have a decent amount of energy leftover. It’s definitely been a good experience so far in regards to training for this upcoming marathon.

Last year I ran the Chicago Marathon with a friend and clocked in a little under 5 hours. This year, hoping I stay healthy for the next 7 weeks, I hope to break a 3:30:00. If I end up doing that, I’ll probably register for the Monumental Half Marathon and really push to see if I can get close to breaking 1:30:00.

Tomorrow’s another long-run. 12 miles, my longest so far in my 10 week training program (first few weeks were just to get miles in) for the 10/9/11 race date. The goal is to stick to a 9:15/mile pace.

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Chicago Marathon recap

Ran the Chicago Marathon this past Sunday. Finished in 4 hours, 58 minutes and 54 seconds. It was a good race and I was running with a friend who was raising money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation so it was a lot of fun just running together and encouraging one another during the race.

Overall, I felt pretty good during the race. Mile 14-15 was probably one of the most painful miles I’ve ever done but after that, I felt the pace we kept up was comfortable. Thankfully my IT band didn’t hurt at all during the race and cardio-wise I was fine. I think my only struggle was that I wasn’t used to the extreme foot/quad fatigue you would experience after mile 20 so it took a little to get used to but overall, the last 6 miles weren’t too bad besides the heat which was pretty brutal (80+ degrees fahrenheit!). It was a great experience and I’m really glad I got to participate in the event!

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10/10/10

I would have to say the biggest reason I decided to train for and run the Chicago marathon was because it was on 10/10/10. I was on my way to the Chicago airport for my study abroad trip to China this past March when I got a text or call from someone about the Chicago marathon and they noted that it was on 10/10/10… when I heard that, I was sold. I mean, I ran cross-country and track in junior high and high school, so the idea of training more miles a week for a longer event didn’t seem to bad. Also, 10/10/10 is just fun to say, when people ask, it’s always nice to say “it’s on 10/10/10.”

I haven’t run a marathon before so I’m not sure what to expect but I am confident that if my IT band doesn’t hurt during the race (hopefully it’s fully healed by now), I’ll be fine and I might be able to do somewhat decent near the end. I’ll start pretty slow and see how I do as the race progresses.

I got my marathon gear all ready and I head for Chicago tomorrow morning. It’s going to be quite the weekend because the day after the marathon, I’ll have an all-day interview and then I have a final the following day. Thursday afternoon at 4:15 PM will be a good day when I’m done with my last final for module 1!