Almost...

It's almost marathon time.

2 weeks ago I did my final long run.  It was supposed to be 22 miles, but I miscalculated and it ended up being 21.5.

No bother.  It was a really good run and I felt really good afterward.

A couple days after that run, Jeannie and I went to symposium for the marathon put on by Fleet Feet.

The panelists gave us some really good advice and information and it was cool seeing some running celebrities.

Last week, I bought my marathon shoes.   They're the newest Brooks Revenna's.

I love them because they're Bears colors.

I'd put 600 miles on my old shoes and it was time to get a new pair.  I bought them 2 weeks before the marathon so I could get them worn in and ready for the big day.  They're still a little more stiff than I'd like so I'm wearing them as my everyday shoes to loosen them up a bit.

Last Friday and I did my final mid-range run in the rain.  I like running in the rain because it makes me feel hardcore.  Since it was raining, I figured the Lincoln Park Zoo would be empty so I detoured through there to switch up my run a bit.  I never run through there because I don't want to be in people's way, but since it was pretty deserted, I figured the animals could use a visitor.  None of them seemed to notice me.

I also ran by the newest statue in Lincoln Park, Fountain Girl.  Read about her, here.

Tomorrow is the Marathon Expo at the McCormick Center.  I'm excited that we're getting closer to pounding out our 26.2 miles.

It's been an up and down few weeks. I attempted to do a 20 mile run 2 weeks ago and totally crashed after mile 14. It was an interesting run though. I was quite a bit South.


When I got to mile 16 I was completely spent. I had my bus pass with me and took the bus the rest of the way home.

I was completely sweaty, salty and out of breath. Everyone on the bus eyed me suspiciously as I heaved and rasped all the way home.

I took a shower, ate and rehydrated. When I was done, I totally couldn't stop sneezing, coughing and sniffling.

I read a lot of articles about my running crash and my sudden sickness and everything led me to believe I might be overtraining.

Too many miles. Too few rest days. Not enough variation in my mileage. Since March I have run between 35 - 42 miles a week. That's not a lot, compared to what experienced runners do. But, being as this is my first marathon, I needed to alter my training a bit because I was extremely run down.

So, I took a full week off. I probably should have just cut my miles down for a week, but taking the whole week off was really what I needed. It wasn't ideal, being that I did it with 4 weeks until the Marathon. But, it really helped.

I did my normal miles last week and had a nice comfortable 20 miler.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to do 22 miles. Then,...

...it's time to taper.

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Location:I'm still running...

Long Runs...

Last time I wrote on here I mentioned that I was about to do a 20 mile run. Well, I did it, but it was a mess.

To clarify, the actual running aspect wasn't too bad, it was the surrounding environment that screwed everything up.

A few years ago while I was working at a theater in Maine, I trained for a half-marathon on a high school track that was nearby. Maine is very hilly and the track was the only place I could run that was level. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the track a lot.

Last year while training for the half-marathon again, I logged some huge portions of miles on the track on Loyola's campus. I would run 4 miles to get to the track, do 4 miles on the track, then turn around and run 4 miles back.

So, this year I thought it might be fun to run on the track next to the Water Tower downtown. It's kind of hidden away, behind the Museum of Modern Art. I figured I could do my 20 miles on that track and end my run downtown.

Well, that was a mistake. The buildings disrupted the GPS signal on my phone and my Nike App couldn't measure my laps. Instead of circles, it gave me this...


Disaster.

Sadly, I didn't realize it until 4 miles in. I measured out the distance of the laps and ended up having to manually count the laps to measure the miles. 120 laps would equal my 20 mile goal.

Unfortunately, I discovered that I don't really like running that many miles on a track. Doing a stretch of miles in the middle of my run is fine, but 3 1/2 hours of running in one location is not enjoyable. For the last two miles, I had to break off the monotony of the track and run in the streets.

It's annoying to look at that big blob in the middle and not the normal, uniform circles that usually you see when you run on a track. Also, the fact that it says my slowest mile was 16.30 and my fastest was 10.03. On the track I was actually running 8.45 in the beginning and 9.30 in the end. 10.03 was what I ran when I switched to running in the street and had to stop for traffic. That's the point where the GPS started working again.

So, it was a rough run. Not physically, but mentally. Having my normal flow disrupted and knowing I couldn't trust my running app, really screwed with my mind. Having the voice from the app tell me that I was on mile 11 when I knew I was at mile18 was discombobulating. Also, I knew my measurement and counts where right, but I kept question it. I'm sure I ended up running further than 20 miles because I added on laps to compensate in case I hadn't.

To make up for it, I decided to do miles again last Friday. Well, that was the day the temperatures hit 93 and the heat index hit 102. I hydrated well and took tons of gels, but it was miserable. I cut is short by 2 miles because I started getting a little delirious in the heat. I even made a pitstop along the way to grab an ice tea and to soak up some air conditioning at Starbucks.


When I got home, I did something I've never done before. I took an ice bath.


It was the smartest thing I've ever done and will now be a part of my long run ritual.

Aside from those hiccups in my past 2 long runs, training has been great. I usually do 8 miles on Sundays, Tuesday and Wednesdays and then a long run on Fridays. I've managed to keep that steady without departing from it too much. I know that one of those days is supposed to be a recovery run at 5 miles, but I never feel like cutting those three miles off. In total, I ran 178 miles in the month of August.

My feet feel great, my legs feel strong and I feel like I'm getting closer to being ready.

I'm going to attempt to do a (nuisance free) 20 miler tomorrow. Then a 22 miler next week and a 24 miler the week after that. Then, I'll start to cycle down.

Also, I've begun to check the weather for October 13th and the forecast looks good.


Sunny and 58! I'll take it!

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Ribs, pt.2...

I ended up doing my 18 miler on Saturday.

I was pretty hesitant about doing it as I walked out the door, but all the worrying was for naught. I cruised through the run without any issues.

I ran North, instead of South. In doing so, I ran 9 miles North and ended up in Evanston on Northwestern's campus.

It really was a great run and I enjoyed it immensely. Afterward, we walked over to the air and water show and met up with my sister who was in town.





Recovering from the run, I really ate responsibly. I ate like a crazy person Saturday night and all day Sunday.

Because of that, I forced myself to do 12 miles on Monday.

Bumping my Friday run back to Saturday has thrown my week off a bit. I ran 8 miles in the sweltering heat with my wife, Jeannie on Wednesday.


But, I can't do my normal back to back day, today. I'm doing 20 miles tomorrow and I need my legs to be rested for that. I'll have to make up the extra miles and run a few times in a row next week.

On the bright side, my ribs have almost completely healed. They don't hurt at all when I run and are only tender when I get bumped or sleep on them wrong.

Also, if you are following this blog, I'm sure you already know and follow her blog. If you don't, you should! Her blog is really funny and she updates it a few times a week.

Follow her blog here.
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New routes...

Last Friday I ran 16 miles. I switched up my route to make it a little more interesting. Instead of running on the Lake path, I ran downtown.


The great thing about running is you pass closely by things you've never seen before.





I eventually turned around at the McCormick Center and ran home.


On Sunday I did 10 miles. Tuesday and Wednesday I did 8 miles on both days.

It was a struggle on both days. Not because I was tired or had cardio problems, but because I got crushed beneath a pile of people in my improv show Sunday night. My ribs are k.i.l.l.i.n.g. me. If I take a deep breath, it's very painful.

Thursday was my rest day and I didn't run so my ribs felt better. Today I'm scheduled to do 18 miles, but as much as I don't want to do it, I'm delaying my run. I'm shifting my long run to Saturday, Sunday or maybe even Monday. However long I need before I can breath comfortably while I run.

When I ran on Tuesday, I ran home from the Jefferson Park Train Station.


There are some bizarre statues over there.


From that station to my house, it was almost exactly 8 miles.

The new routes have really invigorated my runs. Now, I've just got to get these ribs healed up.

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Cronut...

I finally tracked down some Cronut's!

What's a Cronut, you ask?

There have been lots of articles written about this food fad that has navigated here from NYC. Here are a couple stories about them. Time Out and Cronut 101 and Eater.

They are essentially a donut/croissant hybrid. A donut, made out of a croissant.

In Chicago there are only a few places that sell these delectable pastries. One of those places, La Boulangerie is a 15 minute walk from my house.

In the past few weeks, I've walked over there on 4 different occasions to try to procure one of those little devils and have been thwarted all 4 times. They sell out fast!

Yesterday, after my long run of 16 miles I saw on La Boulangerie's Facebook status that they had a fresh order of Cronut's (They actually call them Crognet's, because it's a French bakery.). Most places have only been selling Cronut's on Saturdays and Sundays, so a mid-afternoon delivery on a Friday afternoon was a surprise.

I was headed over to Landmark Theater anyway to see a movie so I detoured over to Belmont in the hopes that I might be able to snatch up one of these little treats.

I walked in and there they were.


I picked out 3.


The maple-glazed bacon Crognet, salted caramel and peanut Crognet and the vanilla glazed with raspberry filling Crognet.

Let me tell you, I thought they would be good, but they're better than I thought.


Look at the buttery layers.



My favorite was the salted caramel and peanut Crognet.


So buttery. So satisfying.

Now that I've had them, there's no need to stand in line or wake up early to get one. If ,however, I happen to be in the area and hear there's a fresh batch in the display case, I'll elbow everyone out of the way to get one.
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Nail Gone...

The nail on my finger fell off.  It was excruciatingly painful.

Oh well.

My schedule has been pretty busy and very random. I'm teaching a lot and going to lots of different random meetings.


Still, I've found a way to keep my running schedule.






On Thursday, I ran 14 miles. From my house, I ran to Soldier Field and back.

I was pretty exhausted after I finished. I recovered by having waffles with Jeannie and our friend Joey.








Yesterday and this morning, I ran early before heading to my class. There's been a shift in the weather this week and it's been very muggy. After 8 miles yesterday and 5 miles today, I've been completely drenched with sweat.

My plan is to run 16 miles on Friday. I'm excited to see where that means I'll be running.