I'm running Chicago for the first time this year and just trying to plan my strategy for race day. I'm not sure what I want to set my goal time for yet but it is somewhere in the 2:40's. Does anyone have any good tips for this race (aid stations, running tangents, weather to expect, etc)? I would love to hear somebody else's pacing strategy that has run it within the 2:40-2:50 range. I know that it's a flat course, but I seem to be having a difficult time finding an elevation profile map.
Thanks!
Since you asked.............Here's the report:
Just some background: I am 31 year old male that got into these crazy sports in 2011. My first marathon was in 2012 at IMLP at 4:50 (what a painful memory, overall time 13:25 for first IM). After that I set my sights on BQ. Since then I first tried in 2012 Philadelphia Marathon with 3:09, missing it by 4 minutes. I then took another stab at it that Spring at 2013 Long Island Marathon, which was another massive PR @ 2:56. It's kind of funny because at the time I thought it was one of the hardest efforts I ever put out, until you read on. I put in some serious run training for 2013 NYC marathon, completed my last long run 3 weeks before race day, and got hit by a car on my bike. All banged up, cut up, and a fractured patella I had to sit out NYC. I went full force with rehab, started swimming and cycling on bike trainer as I can tolerate and didn't start run training until beginning of January. From January to April I went full force into run training again and squeezed out a 2:53 at Boston 2014. Run training slowed down to allow for IM training for second stab at IMLP 2014 and brought time down to 11:03 (another painful memory). Came home from Placid, took off 3 days, and got back into marathon training for Chicago/NYC combo.
August to October: I upped the training that I did for Boston and kept and open mind on what goal to set until I got closer. I started out aiming to break 2:50 but I kept responding well to training and getting stronger and stronger. About 3 weeks before I switched goal to about 2:45, which changed was changed again about 3 days before the race to shoot for 2:43ish.
Race weekend: everything kept going good. I flew into Chicago Saturday morning, had a friend pick me up and take me straight to expo and after getting out of there before 11 just relaxed. The rest of the day I ate lots of deep dish pizza, relaxed, did my ritual 2.62 mile Tempo run and went to bed early.
Race morning: I woke up an hour earlier than planned because my friend forgot that there is a 1 hour time difference between NYC and Chicago and texted me good luck. Ate simple breakfast, sipped Gatorade, bundled up, jogged a mile to start, refilled the widemouth gatorade bottle 5 minutes before race by emptying my bladder and then got ready to run.
Start of the race: I was surprised that there was no gun or anything to sound the start, before I knew it we were just pushing towards the start with no real indicator that the race started. I started off a little bit ahead of pace, but expected that for the first few miles so I didn't care. At about the 5k point I started settling in to desired effort. From about 5k to 30k I was pushing a fast and hard pace and way above my goal 2:43. I repeatedly asked myself if I should keep up the pace and risk meltdown or slow down and conserve. I kept saying "F it" and going with the crash and burn approach. Although I dropped only about 5-10 seconds per mile, at about 30-37k I knew that I was entering the transition period where it was getting hard and the "wall" was very close. At about 37k it finally happened, I crashed and burned. I really started to doubt everything and struggle with every step but somehow managed to maintain a respectable pace at about 25 seconds slower than the pace for the first 15 miles. Last 1.5-2k I mustered up everything that I can and pushed. I returned back to the pace that I started out at and finished strong with a time of 2:41:44!
Next up: As of now I'm going to do redeem myself from not being able to do NYC last year and see if I can get closer to or even break 2:40 in 3 weeks. If it doesn't work at NYC in 3 weeks then I will give it a stab at Boston 2015.
Further up: Ultimately I think that I am nearing my marathon PR ceiling and plan to shift my focus towards KQ. I have IMMT on the calendar for 2015, so after Boston I will try to tackle my poor swimming problem, and raise my FTP as high as possible. My thinking is that if I can get my cycling ability to be comparable to my running ability then I will definitely have a shot, no matter how poor a swimmer I am? Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated. Luckily when I get off the bike my legs rarely fail me, so I know that I can sacrifice running for the sake of the other two sports.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks!
Since you asked.............Here's the report:
Just some background: I am 31 year old male that got into these crazy sports in 2011. My first marathon was in 2012 at IMLP at 4:50 (what a painful memory, overall time 13:25 for first IM). After that I set my sights on BQ. Since then I first tried in 2012 Philadelphia Marathon with 3:09, missing it by 4 minutes. I then took another stab at it that Spring at 2013 Long Island Marathon, which was another massive PR @ 2:56. It's kind of funny because at the time I thought it was one of the hardest efforts I ever put out, until you read on. I put in some serious run training for 2013 NYC marathon, completed my last long run 3 weeks before race day, and got hit by a car on my bike. All banged up, cut up, and a fractured patella I had to sit out NYC. I went full force with rehab, started swimming and cycling on bike trainer as I can tolerate and didn't start run training until beginning of January. From January to April I went full force into run training again and squeezed out a 2:53 at Boston 2014. Run training slowed down to allow for IM training for second stab at IMLP 2014 and brought time down to 11:03 (another painful memory). Came home from Placid, took off 3 days, and got back into marathon training for Chicago/NYC combo.
August to October: I upped the training that I did for Boston and kept and open mind on what goal to set until I got closer. I started out aiming to break 2:50 but I kept responding well to training and getting stronger and stronger. About 3 weeks before I switched goal to about 2:45, which changed was changed again about 3 days before the race to shoot for 2:43ish.
Race weekend: everything kept going good. I flew into Chicago Saturday morning, had a friend pick me up and take me straight to expo and after getting out of there before 11 just relaxed. The rest of the day I ate lots of deep dish pizza, relaxed, did my ritual 2.62 mile Tempo run and went to bed early.
Race morning: I woke up an hour earlier than planned because my friend forgot that there is a 1 hour time difference between NYC and Chicago and texted me good luck. Ate simple breakfast, sipped Gatorade, bundled up, jogged a mile to start, refilled the widemouth gatorade bottle 5 minutes before race by emptying my bladder and then got ready to run.
Start of the race: I was surprised that there was no gun or anything to sound the start, before I knew it we were just pushing towards the start with no real indicator that the race started. I started off a little bit ahead of pace, but expected that for the first few miles so I didn't care. At about the 5k point I started settling in to desired effort. From about 5k to 30k I was pushing a fast and hard pace and way above my goal 2:43. I repeatedly asked myself if I should keep up the pace and risk meltdown or slow down and conserve. I kept saying "F it" and going with the crash and burn approach. Although I dropped only about 5-10 seconds per mile, at about 30-37k I knew that I was entering the transition period where it was getting hard and the "wall" was very close. At about 37k it finally happened, I crashed and burned. I really started to doubt everything and struggle with every step but somehow managed to maintain a respectable pace at about 25 seconds slower than the pace for the first 15 miles. Last 1.5-2k I mustered up everything that I can and pushed. I returned back to the pace that I started out at and finished strong with a time of 2:41:44!
Next up: As of now I'm going to do redeem myself from not being able to do NYC last year and see if I can get closer to or even break 2:40 in 3 weeks. If it doesn't work at NYC in 3 weeks then I will give it a stab at Boston 2015.
Further up: Ultimately I think that I am nearing my marathon PR ceiling and plan to shift my focus towards KQ. I have IMMT on the calendar for 2015, so after Boston I will try to tackle my poor swimming problem, and raise my FTP as high as possible. My thinking is that if I can get my cycling ability to be comparable to my running ability then I will definitely have a shot, no matter how poor a swimmer I am? Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated. Luckily when I get off the bike my legs rarely fail me, so I know that I can sacrifice running for the sake of the other two sports.
Thanks for reading.