Weekend Recap – The Last Long Run before Chicago
Finished up a good run leading up to Chicago Marathon. So glad to have it done with and ready to taper and head on to Chicago (and then Philly). I didn’t try out anything new, but it helped reinforce some stuff that I’ve tried out in the past.
Personal Lessons Learnt / Reinforced
- I chafe. A lot. In weird places. In new places. I just have to deal with it and carry a few extra tubes of aquaphor.
- No matter how serious I try to be, I love having fun (and taking pictures)! So I just have to build that time into my race day game-plan.
- I love to talk. Especially when I start hitting runners high. And I kind of get there super quick. So not talking during the run was hard, harder than the run itself. Good thing that my race day nervousness causes me to shut up, else I’d be wasting more energy in trying not to talk than by talking itself.
Running Lessons Learnt / Reinforced
- My body takes its sweet time to warm up. I guess that’s good in a marathon/half because I can’t go out too fast.
- Starting out slow helps me finish strong.
- Hills are still a pain in my you-know-where (actually its a pain in my MIND!). Winter focus will be hill training. No treadmills or the flat trails at river unless it is for recovery. I lose a lot of pace on hills but I kick back on flat.
- I am capable of running through longer intervals (instead of 2:1) towards the end of insane long runs. At one point starting back to run from walk is harder than running straight out and I think I am conditioned enough to carryon (on the assumption, of course, that I haven’t maxed out by then).
- I still don’t know how I shall manage to run 26.2 miles at 12:35-12:55 pace. I ran NOLA at 13:15 and my long runs have been 13:20ish in the heat and humidity. But I know that I shall go for it.
- I think I am ready for Chicago 🙂
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| We started out way too early to be awake, but not too sleepy to take some sparkleskirt pictures! |
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| 10 miles down, 11 more to go – we are still smiley and goofy! |
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| How could we not feel perky when we had some amazing water stops – including the legendary Chris (husband of one of the fast runners) and some Frush smoothie tasting at the end with Jesica of rUnladylike. |
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| How amazing to get personalized medals for a 21-mile achievement and a massage too! |
Did you run/race this weekend? How did it go?
Those of you running Marathons on October 6-7 weekend (Chicago, Twin Cities, Portland, …), how do you feel after your final 20 miles?Â
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