I had been looking forward to March because I figured the winter weather would finally ease up. Guess I was wrong. I'm reminded that this is why spring marathon training in chicago is a challenge. But regardless of the weather, April 16th is coming up, and I doubt the good folks who present the Boston Marathon are going to push it back a few weeks for those of us here in the windy city.
Yes, it's getting close to Boston time. By my count there are six long runs left before the big one. For me that will probably include two more 20 milers, mixed in with some cut-back weeks.
The point of this entry however, is to talk about the hills. I have borrowed an excellent elevation chart from a blog by a mid-pack runner named Brad Feld. This really illustrates the hills on the Boston course pretty well, so take a look. This is from his GPS:
Notice all the hills that get smoothed out in the official map, especially between miles 15 
and 23.
Thanks Brad!
If I were to make an elevation map for Chicago it would look something like this:
Mile 1 ___________________________________________ Mile 26
Ok, you get the idea. I've been hearing from everyone I know who has run Boston, that the most important thing to prepare for is the hills. I'm told on your training runs you should never run by a hill without going up, and down, ideally more than once.
I have to say hills don't really freak me out, but then, I've never run Boston before. I'm told the hills there are daunting, particularly because of where they come in the race. In Boston, it's right where you are really starting to feel drained.
Coach Bill Leach says the secret to it is to make sure your body has enough fuel in it when you reach that point. But he and many others also advise training on hills as much as possible.
So this weekend may be a cut-back week as far as distance, but I am going to get back out to Barrington and get some work on the hills. It's the best place I know in the area to get elevation changes that approximate the conditions in Boston. And I only know that because my running partners have been to Boston a number of times.
I'll let you know how it goes in the next few days. Til then enjoy the weekend and I'll see you on the roads...
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