Marathons Past

Hello!

I'm just in from a decent 13 miler. It was my longest run since the Lakefront Marathon on October 4th. I was typing up a long blog entry and somehow I managed to lose it. So, I am going to go for something a bit more succinct this time. I figured I would explain a bit of the history behind my "marathons past" as a bit of background information. I have run 4 marathons so far. My first was in the fall of 2005 and my last was just last fall (2009).

Chicago 2005
Chip time: 3:49:04
This race went awesome! My training had gone relatively well although I did have some gluteus medius pain that caused me to change one of my 20 milers into a 16 miler. Also I had abandoned all speedwork pretty early on. Still, my training was very solid, especially for a first marathon. I felt great throughout except for a bit of "foggy brain" near the end.

St. Louis 2007
Chip time: 3:59:17
Notice how I got 10 minutes slower? This is not the way it is supposed to go! But, it really wasn't too much of a surprise. My training was not great. One week I ran a 20 miler and then didn't run a single day until my next 20 miler the following week. That's clearly not ideal. I was in my last semester of engineering school, working on senior design projects, buying a house, etc. and was just busy and exhausted. Excuses, excuses, I know. Basically, I am lucky to have done this well on such crap training. :)

Austin 2009
Chip time: 4:09:06
Notice the time. I got 10 minutes slower again! WTF? Well, my training was much better for this one, but much of it was on a treadmill. Now, I am not afraid of the cold and am generally ok running in any temperature once I get myself out the door. But, the streets and trails around my house became utterly impassable due to freeze/thaw cycles. Also, my training started out super strong, but I was not taking the rest days called out by Pfitzinger. Bad idea. About half way through, I came back from a cutback week feeling tired, not rejuvenated. I was forced to cut back a bit or else risk completely crashing and burning. Still, I would have expected a better time, but Austin was hillier than my previous marathons.

Milwaukee Lakefront 2009
Chip time: 3:54:24
You were guessing a 4:19, weren't you? Luckily, I bucked the trend! My training for this one was pretty solid, although I wasn't completely faithful to Pfitz, especially in the later weeks. My speedwork was also quite spotty (I loathe it-but that's a topic for another entry). The Lakefront course is also notoriously flat, which couldn't have hurt.

That brings us up to now. As stated, my next marathon will be the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN in June. I plan to talk more about my training for this one and my running philosophy in general in the near future. For now, I need to get going.

Happy Running!
Jen