Hungry for a sub-3 at Chicago
I am near recovery from my race in San Francisco and motivated to prepare for Chicago. I have nine weeks to get ready for what I hope will be my strongest race performance of the year.
I have been browsing the runninghead.com forum string called "Goal of sub-3 marathon". It's obviously a popular topic as it was initiated back nearly 1 year ago and has 133 pages of replies. I have found some inspiration as I read of others who are chasing and have nailed the sub-3 goal.
Yes, I achieved it earlier this year. But I want to do it again. I am feeling hungry after struggling in San Fran. Chicago is flat. Austin, Boston and San Fran all have substantial elevation changes.
As I write this at 7:03 PM local time, it's 87 degrees at 71% humidity, which makes it a "feels like" of 98. These conditions make it tough to nail long runs - even before 7 AM. Today was a prime example. I met up with my group and cut my run short so I could finish up inside on my treadmill. I was dying out there this morning.
I proved to myself this past winter during my Austin cycle that treadmill training is far more effective than dealing with poor weather elements. I set a PR with 90% of my mileage on the belt.
Today was the end of my final comeback week after San Fran. I nailed 50 miles and feel like I am ready to step back into Pfitz's 70mpw plan. I will follow this plan as closely as I can for the next nine weeks.
Up next: The Half Madness 1/2 Marathon, in which I hope to put up a 1:25 or better. I have a lot of work to do in the next 4 weeks to make this possible. It's a lofty goal, but I am going to go for it.
2 comments:
Hi - looks like we are in a pretty similar place right now, with sub 3 being the chicago goal. hopefully you get your sub 1:25 at your upcoming half.
3:06 is a good time for SF, that first half is ugly, and while the bridge seems cool in the race brochures, you now know that it does in fact suck to race it. it's a bitch to get up there, a slog out/back on the bridge itself, (which is usually foggy at 6 in thr morning) and then you get to trash yourself on the steep downhill afterwards.
then to top it all, the final downhill 6 miles is full of up hills!
- cheers, alan
If you can run a 3:06 in SF, a 1:25 half should be in the bag unless it's 75 degrees that day. Get outside at least a few times a week, just to help with your heat tolerance. If the 2009mChicago marathon turns out to be anything like the last two years, you'll need all the heat training you can get. 2007 - high 86. 2008 high 80. Good luck!
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