Will not start in Chicago

After a long (very long) hiatus my running blog is back.  I am not really sure why I didn't write anything on it for 20 months.  I started this blog a few years back with two objectives in mind: (i) I wanted to share my running with friends and family, and (ii) I needed to keep a log of my workouts. I will try to keep it alive again. Promise!

 

 

 I had an amazing journey from 2009to 2011.  Specificity and consistency in my workouts converted me from a middle of the pack runner to a 3:09 marathon runner.  But I burned out.  Trying to get faster 'all the time', I forgot the body is a machine that needs a tune-up every now and then.  I didn't listen to it.  Slowly (but surely) I started to miss a workout here and another there, and my body just never recovered from all the pounding of the previous years.  Eventually, I lost all the speed and strength we developed in 2009 & 2010.

 

I never stopped running (and never will), but I took a long break from racing.  I didn't run a marathon in 18 months!!! The itch, however, was always there.  In the summer of 2013, I decided to give it another shot.   I had already registered for Chicago and wanted to come back strong (not fast).  It was a difficult training block but the pateince paid off.  I ran 3:18, very far from my PR but not bad after 18 months away from racing and close to zero speed workouts.  I tried again in Geneva in May 2014 and ran 3:23. Although my time in GVA wasn't great, I finished in good spirits.  The highlight of that race was saying hi to my 13 month old niece at mile 22.  I wanted her to see me running a marathon but she was sleeping !!!

 

I had the intention of running Chicago again (race is tomorrow 12/10/2014). Instead, I am at home writing this note.  Not starting in Chicago was a very difficult decision.  Chicago (2013) and Geneva allowed me to understand that I needed to get my speed back.  I did plenty of marathon specific workouts, but I ran them slow. I needed to go back to the basics.

 

 I spent a good portion of the summer trying to get my speed back.  All the data suggests that I am faster (perhaps as fast as I used to be in 2009-2010).  Yet the focus on speed didn't allow me to do any marathon specific workouts leading up to Chicago.  I know I can finish a 26.2 mile race.  But I don't run marathons just to finish them.  I have enough experience to understand that my training so far will not allow me to run a PR.  I will not start tomorrow because my mind is set on going fast (super fast hopefully) in Houston (Jan 18, 2015).  In the next 3 weeks, I am going to transition to my 12 week marathon specific training block.  I am healthy and ready to truly begin marathon training with hundreds of base miles.  I used to peak at 55-60 miles for my marathons.  This time my average weekly base mileage since July has been 54, 54!!!  Let's hope for a smooth ride.