Chicago Marathon - looking back at summer training

The past two runs have been full of glorious fall like weather in the mornings!! I can't believe it's already starting to arrive. It is a much welcomed break from the unrelenting heat & humidity of the summer. I honestly can't remember a summer that was hotter than this one. With the last big training run before Chicago scheduled for this Saturday it got me to thinking about some of the things that have gotten me through the tough summer months of training:

• My CamelBak Fairfax 50-Ounce Hydration Pack,Black/Hi Viz!!Some friends have laughed when I've shown up to training runs with it, but it has quite simply saved me this summer. I love having my hands free, and having the storage for my phone, any gels I might need or salt packets. I really can't sing it's praises enough! It's just the right size for my mid week runs, and with water stops on Saturday's I've never run out of water on my long runs. It took a little bit of work to get use to drinking out of the mouth piece, but it didn't take long to get the hang of it.

 

• I've been running quite a bit more in my Newton running shoes, usually 1 or 2 runs a week (and I always wear them for my speed workouts). It's taken me a while to get use to them, but I love running in them. I definitely feel like I'm much more efficient and running is easier when I'm wearing them. My orthotics are a bit long for them, so I need to get new ones. I thought about running Chicago in them, but I haven't done any runs longer than 10 miles in them, so right now the plan is to wear my Mizunos for Chicago, and then continue to break the Newtons in for future races. I'm excited about checking out the Newton booth at the Chicago Marathon expo too. I bet I get into a lot of trouble ;-)

• I have discover Pilate's! I planned to a lot more strength training this time round, and tried a bunch of different things. I started out with the 100 push up, 200 sit up, and 200 squat challenges, and after finishing those moved on to other things. I could definitely tell my running was improving, but I got tired of the repetitions. My friends Amy and Laura talk about Pilate's all the time. In fact I'm pretty sure Laura is trying to take over the world by convincing everyone to try a Pilate's class. See Laura, I'm on to you ;-). I wish going to an actual class fit into my schedule, but my non-conventional work hours mean I miss all of the Mat 1 classes at the studio I want to go to. Fortunately I found a pretty good workout to do at home, and even after just a couple of weeks I can tell a huge difference in my running. What in the world took me so long to try Pilate's?

• After 4 marathons it was time to move from beginner runner to intermediate runner. With the help of my friend Amy we created a brand spanking new training schedule that is only slightly different than the Team in Training schedule. This time running was balanced with an equal amount of cross training, more strength training, longer runs, and speed workouts. Now that the weather is cooling off I can tell it's all starting to pay off. I spent most of the morning bouncing around despite a 20 mile bike ride and Pilate's. What, I ran 10 miles yesterday? I have 20 miles to run on Saturday? huh? No biggie, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce :-)