Chicago Marathon 2007 Training: Week 17

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8 Responses to “Chicago Marathon 2007 Training: Week 17”

1. Stephen says:
   

   Hi Derek,

   It would be a shame for you to abandon Chicago at this point. You have built a good mileage base, probably better than most first time marathoners. There’s no doubt in my mind you can finish, and regardless of your time, it will be a great accomplishment. This is just a small step in the journey.

   Note, when I peaked mileage in early April (I was trying to see if I could run 7 hours a week), my running really suffered for a few weeks. It was just too much mileage for me at that time, and many of my runs were a struggle (my legs felt dead, with poor energy). I backed-off on the mileage and am now comfortable at around 30 mpw.

   IMHO, unless you are ill, I think it’s just a matter of giving your body/legs a chance to recover. I would recommend you try running a fews of weeks, with a rest day between each run, with mileage totals in the 20s, increasing you long run by 2 each week (e.g., [6, 6, 10], [6, 6, 12], [6, 6, 14]…).

   August 19th, 2007 at 11:12 am
2. Tom says:
   

   Derek,

   Get some objective input to asses your situaiton before you abandon your goal. Your spirits are low, but that doesn’t mean you have to scrap your plans yet.

   If you need any support, let me know.

   tom@runnerslounge.com

   August 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
3. Colleen says:
   

   I’ve been lurking around your blog for awhile and I want to post to say don’t abandon your goal yet! In 2005 I was training for my 2nd Chicago marathon and I’m certain I had overtrained that summer. I was so hung up on wanting to be faster and better, but my legs were constantly heavy on my runs and I lost all motivation to run. I ended up throwing in the towel with about 6 weeks left of training and did not run the race. When race day rolled around I completely regretted that I wasn’t running. I think you will be ok, and I think you will get your running mojo back. But no matter what you decide, don’t ever forget that you are a runner. This is just one race and if things don’t go as planned there will always be next time. Best of luck to you, I’ll be routing for you!

   August 19th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
4. derek says:
   

   Thanks for the advice everyone.

   Colleen, your experience in 2005 is very applicable to my current situation, especially since I’m also exactly 6 weeks away from the marathon.

   I’m not ready to abandon Chicago as yet, but I’m hoping to see some kind of improvement over the next couple weeks in order to get back some confidence that I could even “finish” the marathon, even if it’s just getting in one long 20-mile run.

   August 20th, 2007 at 6:32 am
5. Dave says:
   

   Derek,

   You might not see any obvious improvement until you run the marathon. I didn’t see much in my last training cycle until the last few weeks. And, frankly, while it was encouraging, I don’t know that it was a true indication of my preparedness for the marathon. I did my 20 milers a bit faster, but it wasn’t like each got progressively easier. And my pace runs felt good, but they didn’t change much over time. The only thing I did that made me feel like I was ready was that I ran a 10 mile race just before I started my taper. I ran it much faster than I thought I would, crushing my PR at that distance. That was all I needed to head into the taper feeling like I was ready.

   You might want to set yourself up with a 10K or some other mid-distance run right before your taper as a test. It could be a great spirit lifter.

   August 23rd, 2007 at 11:01 am
6. derek says:
   

   Dave, thanks for the suggestion on trying a race. I actually found a 15K on Sep 15 which would be 3 weeks before the marathon.

   If I run a decent race, it would be a great spirit lifter, but the pessimist in me is also worrying that it could do the other way and I could have a bad race

   August 23rd, 2007 at 11:21 am
7. Dave says:
   

   No way to know until you do it. The way I look at it, the worse case scenario is that you find out you won’t do quite as well in Chicago as you thought. So, you adjust your expectations and goals and still go for it. Crazy things can happen, which is why we all set three goals for a marathon.

   I think you’ll be fine as long as you keep your mental game in check

   August 23rd, 2007 at 11:44 am
8. SurfNRun says:
   

   No doubt you will be able to finish. As others have said, you’ve built a pretty decent base so i think you’ll do fine. I was hoping for a 4:20 in my first one, but had series of bad ankle injuries that led to spotty training in the second half of training and ended up with 5:07, but had a blast running the marathon. This year I’ve had to re-adjust my goal of sub-4 hr because i had forced time-off from running. I also switched to Hal Higdon’s intermediate plan, which is pretty forgiving compared to Pfitz.

   Good luck with the rest of the training. You can do it!

   August 23rd, 2007 at 2:59 pm

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