It’s true my superfan and I headed to Chicago specifically for the marathon. However, that only took up a brief 3 hours 16 minutes and 29 seconds. The other 57 hours were chock-full of eating, walking, and VWing all around Chicago. Here’s a brief history of our weekend in the Windy City. I’ll break it down into two logical sections.
Well Chicago turned out better than expected. So it leads me to ponder what’s next on the agenda for this Mike’s life. Not all that long ago I made the sweeping declaration that I’d be transitioning my efforts over to the world of triathlon. With the recent sign up for the Austin Distance Challenge and the even-more-recent success in Chicago, it’s hard for me to consider abandoning running for the multisport world. And so here is the plan I lay before you for your approval.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not good at setting goals and then sticking to them. My most recent case in point is the 3M Half Marathon. Well, I have a new, better example of sandbagging underestimating my abilities. I wasn’t planning on doing any Fall marathons this year, but got recruited by Team VW to run the Chicago Marathon as part of a Volkswagen PR marketing campaign. Well PR I did!
Alright party goers, this is going to be the last weekly review post for my Chicago Marathon training schedule. It’s been a long road to this point from getting that initial email inviting me to be part of Team VW. This final week I took it easy, starting with a rest day Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all generally easy runs, focusing on staying fresh and recovering from weeks and weeks of pounding. Next time you hear from me should be my Chicago Marathon race report telling the trials and tribulations of my eleventh marathon! So as I’ve said here before, the work is done. The hay is in the barn.
Well it’s that time. This Sunday is the Chicago Marathon and I’m all geared up to be part of Team VW! I’m really looking forward to everything that’s going to happen this weekend. The Team VW organizers have sent us a few instructions about where to be and when, what to wear, and what to expect. Oh, and there’s also that whole running a marathon thing going on too. So here’s a little preview of what to expect between Friday and Sunday.
We’re flying to the Windy City Friday morning. The plan for the day is to have no plan, meaning just see where the day takes us. We may go over to the race expo Friday if nothing else strikes our fancy after lunch. Saturday Team VW wants the whole team to meet at the expo center at 2pm for a group gathering and to meet a special guest. Gleaning from other emails I realize the I am not that special guest. Instead it’s like Dean Karnazes, as in the super ultramarathoner who has all kinds of crazy feats to his name (just Google him). After the Team VW meet up we have dinner plans for some fancy Italian and then off to a good night’s rest.
So yea, after all the Team VW hoopla there’s that marathon business to take care of. Here are few numbers for you:
Tapering — the time in training that most runners hate. The end of most training plans feature several weeks of decreased mileage and intensity to give the body time to recover in preparation for the race. It also leads to pants full of ants and an overall surplus in energy. Really it’s a silly idea, to build a runner’s endurance up to 50+ miles per week, transforming their body into a high-performance running machine and then suddenly say “now take it easy for a few weeks”. Well to that I say “psssssssh”.
If I had to describe the last 4 days in one word it would be “whirlwind*“. Not even counting all of last week’s mayhem of getting ready to close on our house, on Friday we actually did close on our house! With cleaning people, movers, an electrician, and DirecTV coming Saturday and Sunday, the Chicago Marathon fast-approaching, and a last-minute registration for the IBM Uptown Classic 10K, I had not put a
lot of thought into this race. For perspective, there were/are unpacked boxes everywhere, so I was still tracking down my shoes at 11pm the night before the race. So with my mind thinking about everything but the race, it went pretty well.
Well my Autumn Fall just got a lot busier on the running front. Sponsored by Austin Fit Magazine this year, the Austin Distance Challenge is a series of races all here in Austin spanning from early October through mid February. I had considered taking the Austin Distance Challenge last year, but some prior commitments (read: marriage + honeymoon) caused a bit of a scheduling conflict. Well no conflict this year! So I’m all in for taking on the challenge.
We’re back on track folks! I got all my scheduled runs in last week and had no problems, inside or out. With travel to Connecticut for Colin’s wedding I had to smash everything into five days instead of six, so obviously I skipped my rest day. Tuesday’s intervals (four 3/4 mile repeats) were right on target and Wednesday’s 11 mile run to work was on the faster side of normal.
On Thursday night Ev and I landed in JFK and made the drive out to Connecticut near Colin’s apartment. I met Colin Friday morning on a street corner to embark on our 20 miler and my last major run before tapering for Chicago. What I wasn’t expecting was actually how humid it was. I was hoping for cool, crisp Northeast Autumn. Instead we got foggy, rain* that lasted approximately 2.5 hours of the 2.75 hours that we ran. Good news is my leg-hip injury is a thing of the past. It was great running with Colin again, and now he’s all married and stuff!
Now for my least favorite thing, besides the dentist… tapering.
| Distance | Time | Pace | Heart Rate | |
| Monday | 7.15 Miles | 1:01:38 | 8:37 min/mi | 145 bpm |
| Tuesday | 10.01 Miles | 1:16:38 | 7:39 min/mi | 157 bpm |
| Wednesday | 11.00 Miles | 1:30:01 | 8:11 min/mi | 153 bpm |
| Thursday | 3.56 Miles | 31:10 | 8:46 min/mi | 139 bpm |
| Friday | 20.23 Miles | 2:44:04 | 8:07 min/mi | 156 bpm |
| Total | 51.95 Miles | 7:03:32 | 8:09 min/mi | 153 bpm |
*yes, rain! ugh, Austin is changing me into someone who savors rain
Don’t worry, I’m not going to drop an economics lesson on you. That would just be boring. Instead I’m going to talk about my recent streak of ailments keeping me from running. Exciting! We’re talking micro as in microorganisms and macro as in macro painful. Two separate situations arose, both incapacitating me right at the peak of my training for the Chicago Marathon. One sabotaged me from the inside while the other full-on assaulted me from the outside. To add insult to injury injury to illness, my injury waited for my illness to subside before busting onto the scene.
