61 Days Before the Chicago Marathon

I decided to take a break from running after bonking out during my seven mile run on Wednesday, the blister under my right heel begged me to stop, and feeling pain around my right heel. My body needed to recover from the half marathon. It gave myself a chance to evaluate my training and what I need to do to run a good marathon.

I went out too hard and too fast on Tuesday because I was elated to shave 23 minutes from my previous best time. I started to have pain around my right heel and discomfort around my blister. My body needed more time to recover before I continue to training. In order to finish the marathon, I need to show up healthy at the starting line.

The quest to get better, smarter, stronger, and faster finally embedded itself into my psyche. Experience makes me a smarter and faster runner. Last night, I penciled in a few marathons and 5K races for Winter/Spring 2010. Why? Boston. I want Boston. The Boston Marathon has been on my mind for the past month now. I want more experience on different courses and add to my knowledge base. Hopefully, I can run in the Boston Marathon in April 2011. The Shamrock Shuffle is back on my calendar. My target marathon for Spring is the Illinois Marathon held May 1st. It’s a much smaller field.  I expect to have more room to run.

Training makes me stronger and faster.  I own a lot of bits of knowledge for training but I’ve been unable to weave it together.  Like a race car, lighter is faster.  I need to shed weight before the marathon.  I just haven’t been able to accomplish that.  During my last race, my form started to degrade shortly after the race.  I need to strengthen my core if I want to be successful this year at Chicago.  Getting lighter and stronger also reduces the chance that I’ll get injured and may increase my recovery time.  One change I’ll be making will be training for the worse case scenario, hot weather, the sun beating on the runner, and glycogen completely used up.  It happened in 2007 and I experienced it in 2008.  I need to fine a good training program that would help me lose weight, strengthen my core muscles, and train my body to deal with lower glycogen levels.

I want to thank everyone that has supported me and donated to the charity I’m running for, Children’s Memorial Hospital.  We’ve raised 18% of my fundraising goal in support of the more than 126,000 patients treated at Children’s Memorial Hospital each year.  Thank you everyone!