As I write this, the opening of the baseball season for both the Cubs and Sox is a little later this afternoon. And for a change it is pretty good weather in Chicago for baseball. Spring. The time when young men's mind's turn to... running! After months of bundling up, or at least bringing along some extra layers just in case, it seems we have turned the corner! I realize this is Chicago, and we still will most likely get snow a week from today for the Cubs home opener. But at least the leaves are starting to bud on our trees outside, and I'm thinking I might have to crank up the lawn mower sometime fairly soon. So I'm celebrating the season.
And the timing is good, because this is the hardest, and most serious week of my marathon training schedule! This weekend marks three weeks out from my May 1st race, so that means I'll run my longest track workout in the middle of the week, and my final 20 miler over the weekend. After that I have the taper phase to look forward to, but I've still got to get through the hard work for the next few days.
I know I wrote several weeks ago about how I dread track workouts, and I rarely do them. It was just happenstance that I wandered over to the track about six weeks ago, when the snow was still covering the ground, in the first place. But once I got through that first round of mile repeats, I felt compelled to continue. So I have faithfully made it to the track once a week since then, and I can really tell the difference in my running. My strength and speed are noticeably better, and I feel more confident in my pacing, which is the main reason you run mile repeats in the first place.
Whether that leads to the marathon finishing time that I'm aiming for is yet to be determined, but my training and times are pretty similar to a few years ago when I ran my marathon P.R., so we'll see what happens.
One of the tools that is different this time around in my training is my Garmin GPS watch. Let me say for the record that I am 'old school' when it comes to running gadgets. Just give me a stopwatch and I'm happy. I've never worn a heart rate monitor, or been interested in a lot of the data about calories, or VO2max etc. that is available to runners these days. The watch, however, was a thoughtful Christmas present from my wife. So, even though I haven't figured out how to fully utilize all the features, I can appreciate a couple of basic ones.
First off, the watch accurately measures distance. So the days of my estimating the miles based on the overall time and my guessing my pace are over. Since using the GPS watch, I've discovered I've slowed down a little over the years, and probably had been overestimating the distances during some of my training runs. The watch also tells you the current pace you are running. That is really pretty helpful, especially in a race.
I wore it during the recent March Madness half marathon and really appreciated both of those features. Instead of guessing my pace, or how much I had to go before the next mile marker, I could just glance at my wrist and it was all right there. I'm looking forward to using it in the marathon.
My next race after the marathon, I believe, will be the Soldier Field 10 miler on Memorial Day weekend. I've mentioned in the past in this space how much I enjoy that race. Most of my running friends make it an annual part of their calendars. That said, I was talking with Dave Zimmer, the race organizer the other day, and he mentioned they are getting close to closing out the entries. He says they will send out a mass email when they get really close, but when that happens, it usually fills up by the end of that day. So here is an early warning. They have increased the field by a couple thousand runners this year (to 10,000), and they plan to finish on the actual 50 yard line in the middle of the field (as opposed to the sideline) this year. So it should be fun. But you probably only have a few days or a week before it's closed. Here's a link:
http://www.soldierfield10.com/htm/event.html
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is a much shorter, and smaller race coming up in Busse Woods that I have always wanted to run. It's the run for Rett, a benefit for Rett's syndrome, put on by a couple whose daughter suffers from this mysterious, debilitating ailment. I think I may be able to get out there this year. Hope you can too. Here are the details:
11th annual Run for Rett
Benefits the International Rett Syndrome Foundation
Sat. April 24, 5K at 8:30 AM, 1 mile fun run at 9:15
Preregistered cost $20, onsite $25
Register at: www.signmeupsports.com
I'll see you on the roads.....
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