20 Miles

I'm 10 weeks out from race day and I've already finished my 20 mile run.  In past races this run marked the end of my distance training and the beginning of my taper.  I've got at least 7 more weeks of base building and speedwork before I will start thinking about cutting back.

I will run a few more 20 mile runs - I will appreciate the extra conditioning on race day.  Ideally, I'd like to breeze to the 22 mile mark and power through the final 4.2... if I can keep my pace on track, avoid injury and adapt to the weather conditions (hoping for a seasonal cooler autumn day, not the furnace-like weather last year), I'm confident I'll hit my goal time.

Back on track!

It has been a few months since my last post, but I've been as busy as ever preparing for my next big race, the Chicago Marathon.  After the Colorado Marathon I took a couple of weeks off, ran the Bolder Boulder and then joined a coaching program to get me ready for the next marathon.  My goal for Chicago is to break the 4 hour mark.  It's going to take some work, but I've got a good coach who has me working on a few things that I hope will get me over the hump.

I'm working with Coach Brian Glotzbach at Personal Best Marathon Coaching (www.personalbestmarathoncoaching.com).  I'm running 40+ mile weeks already, and I'll break the 50 mile mark next week.  I've been doing track workouts to help build speed and stamina, tempo runs on the road, and long runs (18+ miles) to help me stay strong during the actual race.

In addition to the Bolder Boulder, I ran the Slacker 1/2 Marathon on June 24.  This was my sixth half marathon, and I was able to break the 2 hour mark for the first time with a PR of 1:59.  I'm running the Georgetown-Idaho Springs Half on August 13, so we'll see how all of this training is paying off.