Ben’s Race Page

With less than a week to the marathon, I thought it would be a good time to post some details about my plans for the marathon. I’m hoping to run it in 3:30 to 3:40. That is roughly 8:00 to 8:30 pace. I really hope I can keep that pace for 26.2 miles. The course map is here. You can sign up for runner tracking here, but it hasn’t worked that well in the past. Hopefully they have worked the bugs out. If you want to sign up, but bib number is 9805.

We’ll probably be a little bit slow at the start of the race, so I will give you times that are for 8 and 9 minute pace. Hopefully I will be somehere in between those times. If I’m any faster, that will be trouble. The race starts at 8am, but it will probably take about 10 to 15 minutes to cross the starting line due to the number of people running the race. So, I should hit Old Town (mile 5)sometime between 8:50 and 9:00 am. Boys Town (mile 8 ) by 9:15 to 9:25 am. The 1/2 marathon point (13.1 miles) by 9:55 to 10:10 am. Pilsen (mile 19) by 10:40 to 11:00 am. Chinatown/Comiskey area (22 miles) between 11:05 and 11:30 am. Anyway, it’s probably easiest to let me know where you will be so I can look for you. Basically plan on a 8:00 minute per mile pace and add 10 minutes for how long it will take to cross the starting line and that should be the earliest I will be at any given point. A quick tool for figuring this out is the Cool Running Pace Calculator. You can put in the distance and pace, and it will show you how long it will take to run that distance. Also, depending on temperature and everything, I am planning to wear my orange Illinois running shirt and blue shorts. I will try to take a picture and send it out later. It looks like the termerature should be nice for the race.

So I think I’m ready to go. I just need to take it easy this week and get some rest and eat well.

So this is it. The final week before the Marathon. I ran my last long run on Saturday and it felt really short. We went 8 miles in 1:07:34, which is roughly an 8:30 pace. The weather was perfect, so I hope it holds up for the Marathon. The whole run felt great, but again, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep that pace for the Marathon.

I ran the Bucktown 5K on Sunday and it was supposed to be an easy taper run, but my competative spirit got the best of me and I ran it in 22:14, which is a 7:10 pace. The good news is that it was only 5K and I’m not feeling any ill effects. It is always a fun race to run and the course was much better this year than it has been in the past. There were really no bottlenecks and I was able to keep a consistent pace. I didn’t stick around for the post race party, but there was a good amount and selection of food. I will post the results in my results page.

So, all that’s left is a couple of 5K runs this week. I’m planning to walk and stretch on the days that I don’t run, so hopefully, the pain I’m having in my left leg will keep to a minimum.

As my Mom pointed out, I haven’t really done a good job of keepign up with my blog. I’ll try to recap everything here.

In general, I’m feeling really run down. I believe I have shin splints or something similar. I don’t hurt while I run, but once I stop it hurts. I have been trying to be careful and make sure to stretch well after every run and even stretch every day. I know I ran the heck out of my old shoes and I have switched to my newer Brooks GTS7s, but even they feel a little flat. I can’t help but wonder if they made too many changes from the GTS6 to the GTS7 or if there’s something else wrong. I know my Brooks tend to wear out quickly, but if these are worn already, that is rediculous.

9/14 - 20 miles, 3:20:27. This run went really well, but slowly. I ran with Tyler and we took it pretty slow, but faster than he will run the Marathon. I feel confident with my long runs, so as long as I have a good taper, I should be fine.

9/17 - 9/20 - I took it pretty easy this week because of the aches and pains I have been having. I got about 13 miles in on the week.

9/22 - 12 miles, 1:35:34. I ran this run fast, but it was a perfect day for running. I decided to run the marathon with a friend who is planning to run a 3:30 to 3:40 Marathon. That would be a record for me, but I’m not sure if I will be able to keep up. We did run this 12 miles at a faster pace than the Marathon will go, but it was fairly pain free. I was struggling a little cardiovascularly, though.

9/25 - 9/26 - I have been running 4 miles per day this week. I was really sore yesterday, but not so much today. I think the key is to run or walk or do something every day and keep stretching to keep the pain away. I need to have a good taper, but not completely resting needs to be part of that. There will be plenty of time for rest after the Marathon.

I have switched to my newest Brooks GTS7 shoes completely, so they have more miles than my first pair of GTS7s. Also, I’m on track for this to be my second highest mileage months of the year.

I should add that I spent 3 hours of Saturday the 15th running around Chicago for the The Great Urban Race. It was a ton of fun.

I’ve got the Bucktown 5K this weekend, but I don’t plan to break any records for this one. I’m going to take it easy, enjoy myself and use it as part of my taper.

It looked like it was going to be a good morning for a run. We got to the race plenty early and everything went well, but it was more humid than I thought it would be. I got a good starting position and I ran the first half of the race with my friend Dan. We kept a pretty steady pace at 8 minute miles. Things felt good and we even caught up to the 1:45 pace group. There was even a nice breeze headign north on Lakeshore. When we turned to head south, the breeze went away and we were directly in the sun. It was at that point I lost Dan. I found out later that he hit the wall when the breeze went away. I ran with the 1:45 pace group for a while and I thought I recognized the leader. It turns out he was the 3:45 pace group leader for the Detroit Marathon last year and I ran most of the race with that group. They eventually slowed their pace and I was feeling good, so I kept going. At this point, I was running closer to 7:45 miles. We finally got out of the sun and that helped. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I finished and gave a kick at the end to finish just under a clock time of 1:45.

The race was well organized. The water stations were great, except there was one near the beginning where the Gatorade concentrate wasn’t mixed and was undrinkable. I drank mostly water from there on out. There is not a lot of crowd support on Lakeshore, but there are decent crowds closer to the Museum. I have done this race for the last 4 years and the medals this year were the worst by far. The finish area was good, but they said there would be more water and juice where the food was, but I didn’t see any.

Overall a good race and I was happy with my time.

Training has been tough for the last couple of weeks. I have gotten it in, but the weather has been hot and humid (this week has been better), I’ve been feeling run down, and I’ve had a hard time getting motivated for my runs.

Wednesday, Sept 5: 5 miles. Just a bad run all around. It was humid, Fritz was pulling a lot, and my nike+ was not workign right. I was supposed to go longer, but 5 was all I got in.

Thursday, Sept. 6: 7 miles, 1:01:48, 8:47 pace. Again, hot and humid, but run was fine.

Friday, Sept. 7: 5 miles, 45:12, 9:00 minute miles. More of the same and my calves were really hurting. My time was pretty slow.

Sunday, Sept. 9: Chicago Half Marathon. I will cover this in a separate post.

Tuesday, Sept. 11: 8 miles, 1:11:39, 8:56 pace. It was cool outside and I wore a long sleeve shirt. I’m still having pains in my calves and on the sides of my legs.

Wednesday, Sept. 12: 5 miles, 44:14, 8:48 pace. I wore my new Brooks GTS 7 shoes and they felt better, but I still am having soem pain. I was supposed to go farther, but cut it due to time. I ran this at night instead of in the morning and I also ran another 20 minutes with my gf for her 5K training and I was totally out of gas by the end of that run.

Anyway, I’ve got 20 miles tomorrow, so I hope that goes well. I’m really looking forward to the taper.

I bailed on the Sleeping Bear National Lakefront run because it was about 40 minutes from where we were staying and some people I talked to seemed to think it would have been in sand or off road running. Not ideal for an 18 miler. So, I stuck around the Traverse City area and ran on the TART trails (Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation), which were actually kind of boring. It kind of ran by the bay in one direction and in the other, it ran by the train tracks. There also weren’t a lot of people out and not much scenery. At least the weather was beautiful for running. Overcast and not too hot. The run went well, although my pace did drop off near the end. It was a mentally tough run for me since I’m used to running the long ones with friends. I felt good post run and did not have much soreness or stiffness. I’m still feeling pretty good about the Marathon, so I’ll have to see what pace I run.

See the run here.

Motion based.

37 miles on the week.

Tuesday 8/28: 1/2 mile warmup, 3 X 1 mile at 10K pace, 1/2 mile cool down

Wednesday 8/29: 8 miles, 1:12:38. It was really humid out again and my calves were really sore. It was just not a good run. I’ve noticed that my hamstrings are pretty tight, so that may be part of the problem.

Thursday 8/30: 6 miles, 54:49. It was a nice and cool night and I felt a lot better on this run, so it makes me think the humidity has been the problem. My calves were a little sore again, but stretching out the hamstrings seems to help. Fritz ran the whole 6 miles with me.

18 miles on tap this weekend. I’m headed up to Michigan for a wedding in Traverse City. I guess it’s pretty close to the Sleeping Bear National Dunes and there’s a nice running trail up there, so I’m planning to run there.

19 miles on the week so far.

It was raining this morning, but when I checked the radar, it was the trailing edge of the storms and the rain did not bother us on the run. It started out pretty humid, but it stayed cloudy and was actually pretty plesant for running. I met Dan and Megan at Fullerton and ran 10 miles with them. My GPS showed 18 miles on this run, so I’m not sure if that or the nike+ was off. I suspect the GPS was off, but I’ll have to check. I felt good for the run, but was running low on energy in the last couple of miles. It really helps to run with people on the long runs. The new shoes are definetly making a difference. 37.91 miles on the week (I ran a couple of miles with my girlfriend and we’re running 2 more tomorrow).

Tuesday: Speed work, 1/2 mile warm up, 5 X 1000m, 1/2 mile cool down. 4 miles total. Pretty good workout. Fritz pooped out before I did.

Wednesday: 8 miles. It was wet, but went well.

Thursday: 7 miles. I had a horrible run today. I was sore and it just didn’t go well at all. Hopefully it’s just because this was my 3rd run in 3 days and I’m not used to running all these miles. I busted out the new running shoes and those felt better, so that is good. I also broke 500 miles for the year accrodign to my nike +. I’ve run without it a few times, though, so I’ve got more miles than that.

500 miles!

I think I need to get another new pair of shoes.

The weather held off for most of the run. It rained for a little bit, but it wasn’t that bad. I was wet and dirty when I finished, though. I ran with a couple of friends at a slower than normal pace. At about mile 5 or so, we met up with another friend and I ran 5 miles at a faster pace and then went back and finished up at the slower pace. I felt pretty good on the run, so I think I’ll be ready for the Chicago Marathon.

I wore my Steelhead triathlon shirt for the run and it’s a great shirt. It’s a lot lighter than some of my other dri-fit shirts, which was a bonus with the rain. Another guy wearing the same shirt stopped me to ask me about the race, so that was cool.

33.8 miles on the week. This is the most miles I have run in in a while, so we’ll see how my body takes it.

The shoes felt good today, although they were wet. I’m going to start breaking in new shoes, though as I’ll need them for the Marathon.